Tribe Can Proceed With Suit Over HHS Pay for Billing Costs

The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act doesn’t bar a Native American tribe from suing the federal government to obtain reimbursement for its costs of billing third-party health insurers, two Tenth Circuit judges said in a ruling Monday.

Judges Nancy L. Moritz and Allison H. Eid agreed to reverse a lower court order that had dismissed the Northern Arapaho Tribe’s suit against Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, but disagreed on the reason why. Moritz argued that the self-determination act is ambiguous insofar as it governs reimbursements for third-party contract costs and, therefore must be construed in the tribe’s ...