Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Planned Parenthood Can Be Excluded From Medicaid, Supreme Court Rules
The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for states to exclude Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs. In a 6-3 decision divided along ideological lines, the court鈥檚 majority concluded that federal law doesn鈥檛 allow health care providers or patients to sue if a state violates a provision of federal law guaranteeing that Medicaid patients can visit their preferred provider. (Ollstein, Gerstein and Gardner, 6/26)
South Carolina can block Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving Medicaid funds, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision on Thursday 鈥 a major step toward the longtime conservative goal of 鈥渄efunding鈥 the nation鈥檚 largest family planning provider. Medicaid is the largest source of insurance for pregnant people in the country, and most people who get health care at Planned Parenthood clinics also rely on it. (Luthra, 6/26)
Reproductive rights advocates are reeling from Thursday鈥檚 Supreme Court ruling in favor of South Carolina in a legal case to block Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, which they fear will give other states the green light to do the same. 鈥淭oday鈥檚 decision is a grave injustice that strikes at the very bedrock of American freedom and promises to send South Carolina deeper into a health care crises,鈥 said Paige Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Atlantic. (O鈥機onnell-Domenech, 6/26)
In other court news 鈥
A yearslong effort to challenge Michigan鈥檚 practice of storing millions of dried blood samples from newborn babies has been turned upside down by a federal appeals court, which threw out key decisions in favor of parents who said the policy violated their rights. In a 3-0 opinion, the court found nothing unconstitutional about how the state Department of Health and Human Services handles leftover samples, which are called blood spots. (White, 6/26)
When Donald Trump won reelection, Jennifer Hadayia knew she'd need a good lawyer. As the executive director of Air Alliance Houston, an environmental nonprofit advocacy organization that works to reduce the risks of air pollution on public health, she had fought the first Trump administration in court already on a variety of issues. (Wholf, 6/26)
