Several Supreme Court conservative justices appear open to siding with Planned Parenthood in a South Carolina case testing whether Medicaid patients can sue over access to non-abortion healthcare from the organization's medical providers, reports CNN.
Low-income patients who go there for things like contraception, cancer screenings and pregnancy testing could see their care upended if the court sides with South Carolina leaders who say no public money should go the organization.
The court is considering a legal question that could have wider effects: whether Medicaid patients can continue to sue over the right to choose their own qualified provider.
South Carolina says those lawsuits aren't allowed, and barring them would save public money in legal fees. Some conservatives appeared open to that argument, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh saying there has been confusion among lower courts.
"One of my goals coming out of this will be to revive that clarity," Kavanaugh said.
The state says people could go through an administrative appeal process if denied coverage, though Justice Amy Coney Barrett raised questions about whether that would work for low-income patients who'd have to risk paying out of pocket before they could appeal for reimbursement.
Planned Parenthood, which is the nation's biggest abortion provider, argues Congress clearly wanted people to be able to make their own "intensely personal" decisions about which doctor to visit, and lawsuits are the only real way that right has been enforced.
Justice Elena Kagan agreed that patients do have the right to choose their doctor under the law and suggested that blocking them from suing would be a sea change. "This is kind of changing the rules midstream, isn't it?" Kagan said.
Federal law prohibits Medicaid money from being used for abortions, with very limited exceptions, but patients often go there for other services because it can be tough to find doctors who accept the publicly funded insurance program and can schedule appointments quickly.
A ruling is expected by late June.
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