Majority decides the law doesn’t describe what counts as “inadequate” coverage.
This past week, the Supreme Court ruled that an Ohio hospital’s health plan did not violate federal law nor discriminate against dialysis patients by using low reimbursement rates to compel patients to switch to Medicare. “Neither the statute nor DaVita offers a basis for determining when coverage for outpatient dialysis could be considered inadequate,” Justice Kavanaugh wrote in the Opinion of the Court, joined by six other justices.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined Justice Elena Kagan in the dissent, saying that this decision creates a significant loophole for insurance companies to push expensive copayments onto Medicare instead of paying for the procedures themselves. “Now Congress will have to fix a statute this Court has broken,” Justice Kagan wrote in the dissenting opinion.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the Supreme Court justices as they complete the current term.
- For wisdom for members of Congress regarding health insurance and adequate coverage.
- For Administrator Brooks-LaSure as she heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Sources: AP, Reuters
