Medicaid Benefits Denial Doesn’t Give Rise to Private Lawsuit

An Oklahoma couple can’t sue state officials for allegedly violating their civil rights by denying Medicaid applications on the basis that they exceeded the financial eligibility cap, a federal appeals court said Tuesday.

The Medicaid Act’s prompt payment provision didn’t create privately enforceable rights because it didn’t use clear, unambiguous, and unmistakable language to that effect, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said. The court affirmed a summary ruling for the state based on a recent US Supreme Court decision that a beneficiary couldn’t sue to enforce a similar provision.

This appears to be one of ...