Attorney General Ellison urges U.S. Supreme Court to defend Medicaid recipients’ freedom to choose their providers

17 states argue Medicaid Act gives patients the freedom to choose their own providers

March 12, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison today joined a coalition of 17 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a lower court’s decision recognizing Medicaid recipients’ individual right to receive care from the qualified providers of their choice, including Planned Parenthood

In 2018, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster issued an executive order directing the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to remove any organization that provides abortion services, including Planned Parenthood, from the state’s 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, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed the trial court’s decision, holding that the Medicaid Act gives patients the freedom to choose their own qualified healthcare providers, notwithstanding the Governor’s action. South Carolina sought review in the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear the case on Wednesday, April 2. 

“The federal government shouldn’t play politics with your health, yet that’s exactly what they're doing here,” said Attorney General Ellison. “My fellow attorneys general and I are fighting to stop the government from micromanaging what doctor or health care provider folks on Medicaid are allowed to visit. No one's health care options should ever be used as a political prop.”

As the coalition’s amicus brief explains, Medicaid ensures that vulnerable populations can access safe, affordable, and quality healthcare. In order for the Medicaid program to function effectively, patients must be able to access a wide variety of medical providers, including reproductive healthcare providers. In addition to providing abortion care, Planned Parenthood also provides birth control, screenings for sexually transmitted infections, preventive care and routine check-ups for women, physical exams and other health care for men, and educational services. These services are vital to historically underinsured populations.

The coalition’s brief argues that while states have considerable discretion in implementing Medicaid programs, specific safeguards – like the free choice of provider provision – are in place to specifically counter state policies that restrict Medicaid recipients to a narrow subset of healthcare providers, protecting patients’ healthcare decisions from government micromanagement. The free choice of provider provision gives individual patients – and not state government – the freedom to choose their own healthcare 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 healthcare context.

Joining Attorney General Ellison in submitting the brief, which was led by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, were the attorneys general from California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington.