Apache Tribe Proceeds in Suit for Additional Health-Care Money

An Arizona Native American tribe got another chance to recover the costs of administering third-party funded aspects of its health-care program from the government, after a federal appeals court held that the relevant law doesn’t preclude the payments.

The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act at least arguably requires the Health and Human Services Department to reimburse the San Carlos Apache Tribe for contract support costs related to care covered by insurers and other third parties, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said.

The law doesn’t unambiguously exclude third-party funded care from the ISDA’s CSC reimbursement requirement, ...