Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a major opinion affirming the right of Medicaid beneficiaries to sue when their civil rights are violated. NoHLA was one of 41 consumer advocacy organizations around the country who supported this outcome by signing on to a  friend of the court brief filed by the National Health Law Program (NHeLP). 

The Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision released on June 8, 2023, affirmed patient Gorgi Talevski’s family’s right to sue an Indiana nursing home for violating Talevski’s civil rights under the Medicaid Act, 42 USC § 1983 for its illegal use of chemical restraints and his unauthorized transfer to another facility. NoHLA and other advocates across the country were deeply concerned that the Talevski case could eliminate the rights of individuals to pursue civil rights violations in court, effectively closing the courthouse doors to people who rely on Medicaid and other public programs. In the decision upholding the right to sue, Justice Katanji Brown Jackson wrote, “‘Laws’ means ‘laws,’  no less today than in the 1870s, and nothing in petitioners’ appeal to Reconstruction-era contract law shows otherwise. Consequently, as we have previously held, § 1983 can presumptively be used to enforce unambiguously conferred federal individual rights.”  Commenting on the decision, NHeLP’s Litigation Director Jane Perkins said, “Today’s ruling signals that the judiciary will remain a powerful mechanism ensuring that people’s rights under safety-net programs are protected.” Read NHeLP’s full press statement responding to the Talevski decision.