9th Circuit reinstates California's cuts to disability funding

Nov 30 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday reinstated a California law cutting Medicaid funds for the developmentally disabled.

Reversing a lower court ruling, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed California to freeze its Medicaid reimbursement rates for 2009-2010 and subsequent years.

A group of trade associations representing facilities for the mentally and developmentally disabled sued the California Department of Health Care Services to block the freeze this past April. They argued that the state had violated the federal Medicaid Act by implementing the cuts without first obtaining approval from the federal government. The trade groups sued under Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act, which allows citizens to sue if deprived of their rights.

The court found that while California violated the law by not obtaining federal approval first, the trade associations had no individual rights that they could enforce under the federal Medicaid Act.

"A plaintiff must assert the violation of a federal right, not merely a violation of federal law," Judge Ferdinand Fernandez wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel, adding that "it is regrettable that the State refuses to abide by the law."

Read more of the Reuters article HERE.