U.S District Court Finds DHHS
Violated Congressional Medicaid Moratorium

On May 23 the U.S. Disrict Court for the District of Columbia held that US DHHS violated a congressional moratorium when it issued a final Medicaid cost-limit rule.  The court vacated the rule and remanded it to DHHS.  On May 2, DHHS Secretary Leavitt issued a statement that the agency was voluntarily suspending implementation of 2 Medicaid rules, including this one, until August 1, 2008.  Congress has passed new moratoria which would extend this and other Medicaid rules until April 1, 2009.  The three branches of government continue to wrangle over the question of whether and/or when many restrictive Medicaid rules will become effective.

Sam Fish

Sam Fish is a legal consultant at PCG and formerly served as Chief Regional Counsel, New England Region, for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.