The Supreme Court seemed skeptical Nov. 8 of an Indiana-based government health care provider’s argument that the family of a Medicaid-eligible nursing home patient was barred by federal law from suing to enforce the man’s legal rights.
Some legal commentators say if the provider wins, Medicaid patients will lose the ability to enforce Medicaid treatment standards, thus endangering the program.
The highly technical case, Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County (HHC) v. Talevski, court file 21-806, pits the family of a nursing home resident claiming the man was treated poorly against the state of Indiana, which argues the lawsuit by the man’s estate is baseless because Congress never expressly authorized private enforcement of the relevant federal law….