Democrats’ Hypocrisy on Beneficiary Lawsuits
Amidst the comparative quiet of the August recess this month have come developments in the Supreme Court cases collectively known as Maxwell-Jolly. The cases, scheduled to be heard by the Court on the first day of its new term this October, involve whether Medicaid providers and beneficiaries have a private right of action (i.e., the right to sue) against state officials regarding reimbursement rates and beneficiary access.
Earlier this month, a group of Congressional Democrats – including Leaders Pelosi and Reid, and Chairmen Baucus and Harkin – filed an amicus brief with the Court asking them to sustain a private right of action, arguing that giving beneficiaries the right to sue states “provides impoverished Medicaid patients and the medical providers who serve them a means of redress in the court system that they would often not have in the political battles over budget cuts.” Likewise, the New York Times editorial board supported a private right of action, arguing in a leader that “beneficiaries need the right to sue…so that they can force states to consider whether reducing provider payments will limit access to care.”
These comments by the Democrat leaders and the Times are certainly very interesting, seeing as how Obamacare explicitly DENIES Medicare patients the right to sue over restricted or denied access to care. Specifically, Section 3403 of the statute prohibits lawsuits against the rulings of Obamacare’s new board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. This provision denying judicial review was put into the law despite warnings from the Medicare actuary and others that the Medicare payment reductions in the law will be “difficult to achieve” and could cause severe access problems over the long term – precisely the issue the Democrat leaders cited as providing justification for Medicaid beneficiaries to sue.
What’s more, Medicaid providers and beneficiaries currently have a form of redress – they can (and have) utilized federal administrative processes through Washington to demand changes in state Medicaid programs. Conversely, Obamacare prohibits BOTH judicial AND administrative review of the board of bureaucrats’ Medicare rulings – making the power of these unelected officials nearly absolute.
So why do Democrats claim to support allowing lawsuits for Medicaid patients, only to vote for a bill (now law) that denies Medicare patients – many of whom are also on Medicaid – the ability to sue to stop treatments being denied them by an unelected board? If the Democrat leaders – and the New York Times – think access to care for Medicaid beneficiaries merits patients’ right to sue, why did they take that right away from Medicare beneficiaries, while at the same time imposing Medicare payment reductions that non-partisan experts believe will impede access to care? Any way you slice it, these contradictory statements by Democrats on Maxwell-Jolly illustrate how Obamacare doesn’t even live up to the standards Democrats themselves have set.