WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) joined the Senate Democratic caucus in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of protecting the right of millions of Americans to receive reproductive health care from the provider of their choosing. The case, Medina v. Planned Parenthood of South Atlantic, challenges South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster’s attempt to block in-state Medicaid program beneficiaries from accessing reproductive health care at the Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) affiliate’s health centers.
The case is centered around whether individuals can privately enforce the “free-choice-of-provider provision” in the Medicaid statute, which gives Medicaid beneficiaries the right to choose among any qualified health care provider that agrees to participate in Medicaid. A loss at the Supreme Court would pave the way for states to arbitrarily exclude Planned Parenthood from the Medicaid program and deny tens of millions of Americans the ability to receive comprehensive, essential reproductive health care from the provider of their choosing.
In their amicus brief, the senators argue that the plain text of the Medicaid statute and legislative history make clear that Congress enacted the free-choice-of-provider provision to provide any individual eligible for Medicaid with the right to choose among qualified health care and that Congress has provided beneficiaries the ability to enforce that right in court. “The right to select one’s own healthcare provider has been a core promise of the program ever since. And for decades, Congress has approved of — indeed, relied on — private enforcement in federal court as a critical means of protecting that right,” the senators wrote in their amicus brief to the Supreme Court.
The senators continued, “Limiting Medicaid beneficiaries’ access to healthcare providers who specialize in women’s health care — merely because they separately provide abortion services — limits their access to all healthcare and erects false barriers to care.”
“Private enforcement enables Medicaid beneficiaries to hold states accountable when they accept federal taxpayer money while violating beneficiaries’ right to choose the providers on whom that money is spent. “Without such individual enforcement, vital healthcare facilities shutter, leaving our least resourced without access to affordable or accessible healthcare,” the senators stated.
Close to 70% of Planned Parenthood’s health centers are located in communities with a shortage of primary care services and unmet health care needs. This makes them critical heath care access points for people across the country, providing a number of essential health care services from wellness exams, cancer screenings, contraception and more.
“Congress intentionally established Medicaid beneficiaries’ right to receive health care services from the provider of their choice when it enacted the free-choice-of-provider provision nearly sixty years ago. That promise to Medicaid beneficiaries should be honored,” the senators concluded.
The amicus brief was led by U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). Alongside Heinrich, the amicus brief was signed U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz,), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D- N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).
The senators’ amicus brief to the Supreme Court can be read in full here.
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