Judge Says Medicaid Cuts Illegal, Jeopardize Low-Income Access to Healthcare
A U.S. District Court Judge in California on Monday has temporarily blocked a 10 percent cut to the state’s Medicaid payments to doctors, dentists, and other healthcare providers that was approved by the Obama administration in October.
Los Angeles-based Judge Christina Snyder said in a 25-page order that she recognized California’s budget problems, but the cuts raised the risk of “irreparable harm in the absence of an injunction” that the cuts violated federal law because they put Medicaid beneficiaries’ access to care in jeopardy.
Snyder also wrote that California’s "fiscal crisis does not outweigh the serious irreparable injury plaintiffs would suffer absent the issuance of an injunction."
Snyder’s decision was applauded by numerous organizations, including the California Medical Association, the California Dental Association, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the California Association of Medical Product Suppliers, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and the American Medical Response.
The healthcare groups had filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Health Care Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in November 2011 after the White House administration approved the reimbursement cut. The plaintiffs said that the California Medi-Cal rates were already extremely low and many prescription medications are compensated at breakeven rates, which excluded the many providers that cannot afford to participate.
Gov. Jerry Brown of California had signed the AB 97, which cut the reimbursement rates for Medi-Cal providers by 10 percent, in March 2011 as part of the state’s strategy to reduce its budget deficit.
James Hay, president of the California Medical Association, one of the organizations that sued the state to block the cut, backed the judge’s decision.
“The state’s repeated attempt to slash Medi-Cal reimbursement rates is a short-sighted solution that balances the budget on the backs of the poorest and most vulnerable Californians,” Hay said in a statement.
Although the cuts have already been approved by the federal government, Snyder will block it while the court case continues.
Experts say that although the judge’s decision is tentative, the temporary block indicates how the judge is likely to rule.
If the judge decides to permanently block the cuts, the state is going to have to cut spending elsewhere to compensate, said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown’s Department of Finance, according to the LA Times.