Massachusetts Suit Over Circumcision Medicaid Payments Fails

Several Massachusetts taxpayers lost a lawsuit to prohibit the state’s Medicaid agency from paying for neonatal male circumcisions, because they have no actionable claim under either federal or state law, a state appeals court said.

Private citizens don’t have a right to enforce a state regulation precluding MassHealth from paying for services that aren’t medically necessary, because the decision of what constitutes a medically necessary service is committed to the agency’s discretion, the Massachusetts Appeals Court said.

The plaintiffs alleged that most circumcisions aren’t medically necessary and usually are done at the request of the parents for cultural or religious ...