Attorney General James Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Defend Medicaid Recipients’ Freedom to Choose Their Doctors

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of 16 other attorneys general today filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to defend Medicaid recipients’ right to choose their own health care providers, including reproductive health care clinics like Planned Parenthood. In 2018, South Carolina removed all abortion clinics and affiliated physicians from its Medicaid provider list. A South Carolina Medicaid recipient challenged the state’s decision, and a federal district court ruled that the state’s exclusion of Planned Parenthood was unlawful. In March 2024, an appellate court affirmed the decision, and the matter is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Attorney General James and the coalition argue that Medicaid provisions give patients the freedom to choose their own qualified health care providers.

“Medicaid recipients have the right to choose their own qualified medical providers, including those that offer critical reproductive health care services like Planned Parenthood,” said Attorney General James. “When states limit access to these providers, they undermine the very foundation of the Medicaid program, which is meant to ensure that vulnerable populations are able to access the health care they need. I strongly urge the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the rights of patients and protect Americans’ ability to make informed decisions about their own care.”

Medicaid ensures that vulnerable populations can access safe, affordable, and quality health care. Attorney General James and the coalition assert that in order for the Medicaid program to function effectively, patients must be able to access a wide variety of medical providers, including reproductive health care providers. In addition to providing abortion care, which is not required to be covered by South Carolina’s Medicaid program, Planned Parenthood also provides many essential medical services that are required to be covered, including birth control, screenings for sexually transmitted infections, cancer screenings, and educational services. These services are vital to historically underinsured populations. In 2023, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York administered over 175,000 STI tests, conducted more than 18,000 cancer screenings, and provided more than 10,000 Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) insertions.

The attorneys general assert that while states have considerable discretion in implementing Medicaid programs, specific safeguards – like the freedom to choose one’s own qualified health care provider – are in place to specifically counter state policies that improperly restrict Medicaid recipients to a narrow subset of health care providers. The “free choice of provider” provision gives individual patients, not state governments the freedom to choose their own health care providers. The coalition argues that South Carolina’s efforts to stymie patient choice illustrate exactly why Congress thought it was necessary to safeguard individual rights in the health care context. 

“This case is politics at its worst and never should have been taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Paige Johnson, interim CEO and president, Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. “Anti-abortion politicians are so intent on attacking Planned Parenthood health centers that they want to block people enrolled in Medicaid from getting essential health care like cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing and treatment, and more. Make no mistake: every person should be able to access health care from a provider they trust — no matter their income or insurance status. We’re thankful to state attorneys general for defending patients’ right to choose their own doctor and we hope the U.S. Supreme Court does the same.”

Joining Attorney General James in submitting the brief are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawai’i, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and the District of Columbia. 

Today’s action is the latest in Attorney General James’ efforts to defend access to reproductive care and protect reproductive freedom in New York and nationwide. In October 2024, Attorney General James filed an amicus brief urging a federal court to maintain access to emergency abortion care. Also in October, Attorney General James and a coalition of attorneys general filed an amicus brief in support of access to mifepristone. In May 2024, Attorney General James sued an anti-abortion group and 11 crisis pregnancy centers for promoting unproven abortion reversal treatment. In April 2024, Attorney General James led a coalition of attorneys general in urging Congress to expand access to reproductive health services and pass the Access to Family Building Act. In January 2024, Attorney General James led a coalition of 24 attorneys general urging the U.S. Supreme Court to protect access to mifepristone. In December 2022, Attorney General James secured a court order to stop militant anti-abortion group Red Rose Rescue from blocking access to abortion care in New York.