This case presents an issue of national importance and federal circuit conflict: whether the provider-choice plan requirement of the Medicaid Act is privately enforceable. Six circuits have held that Medicaid recipients may bring suit to enforce the provision; one circuit has held that they may not. In addition, private enforcement of the provider-choice plan requirement undermines the contractual nature of Medicaid and the related political accountability Congress implemented. This permeates many areas of the law, including Medicaid, foster-care, and adoption funding. Permitting these private claims significantly burdens States, infringes their sovereignty, and upends the federal-state balance.
Read a copy of the amicus brief here.