Healthcare

Lawsuit Filed Against Matt Bevin’s Medicaid Requirements

Written by SK Ashby

A group of legal advocates have filed a lawsuit against Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin's work and job training requirements for Medicaid enrollment.

Rather than file a lawsuit against the Kentucky state government, the lawsuit has been filed against the Trump regime for granting the waiver for the new requirements.

Calling Medicaid "the cornerstone of the social safety net," health law advocates have filed a federal lawsuit aimed at blocking work requirements and other changes to Medicaid that Gov. Matt Bevin plans to enact in Kentucky, making it the first state to do so under new federal standards. [...]

"The President lacks the authority to rewrite congressional statutes or to direct federal officers or agencies to effectively amend the statutes he is constitutionally required to execute," said the lawsuit filed by the Washington-based National Health Law Program, the Kentucky Equal Justice Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The lawsuit was filed in Washington under the jurisdiction of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

I would say the Fourth Circuit is not friendly territory for the Trump regime under Chief Judge Merrick Garland, but it's hard to say what will happen in this case. My gut says that regardless of what happens at the district or appeals court level, this case could eventually end up in front of the Supreme Court because it will have implications for other Republican state governments that may be considering their own work requirements.

As you know, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin threatened to rescind all of Medicaid expansion if a court strikes down his work requirements so I suppose we'll find out sooner rather than later how serious he is.

If his work requirements are struck down, I find it just as likely that an order to arbitrarily rescind Medicaid expansion would also be struck down.

Is Bevin going to tell a federal judge that he's delivering a body-blow to the health and economy of Kentucky because his feelings were hurt? Because a different federal judge gave an order he didn't like?