In Blow to the LGBTQ+ Community, the Supreme Court Denies Medicaid Patients the Right to Access Essential Health Care from Providers of their Choice, Including Planned Parenthood Clinics

by Aryn Fields •

Today, in a disappointing ruling in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that Medicaid beneficiaries cannot sue to enforce their "free choice of provider" right as outlined in the Medicaid Act, limiting the pathways for legal challenges to South Carolina’s attempt to exclude Planned Parenthood and other providers from its state Medicaid program.

This decision compromises the right of patients to choose their own healthcare provider and unnecessarily restricts access to essential and necessary healthcare for thousands of Americans, including the many members of the LGBTQ+ community who rely on Medicaid coverage and Planned Parenthood clinics to receive the services and resources they need to be safe and healthy– including cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment and reproductive healthcare. 

Where you get your healthcare is a personal choice—not a politician’s. The Court has handed state legislators an alarming power: the greater ability to sever critical lifelines for Medicaid beneficiaries based on nothing more than political ideology. Make no mistake—this ruling will inflict real suffering on real people, denying essential care to thousands of Americans whose only 'offense' was choosing a trusted provider. It’s unfair, it’s cruel and will create unnecessary suffering brought on by state politicians who are putting their political agenda over the lives of those they’re promised to serve.

This decision is especially alarming for LGBTQ+ people, women and people of color—communities who already face healthcare discrimination and heightened barriers to income equality—especially as the Trump Administration continues their 360 degree assault on our ability to access the care we need. We cannot stand by while our lives are put at risk. We will stand strong against these attempts to undermine our rights and fight to ensure that our healthcare system leaves no one behind.

Kelley Robinson, Human Rights Campaign President

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