The First Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a federal requirement that the state of Maine provide Medicaid coverage to several thousand low income 19- and-20-year-old young adults.
The state had sought to drop coverage in 2012, but when the federal Department of Health and Human Services disapproved, the state petitioned for review on constitutional grounds.
Despite providing Medicaid coverage to low-income children whose families met low-income requirements, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services sought to exclude coverage for the group.
But the federal Health and Human Services Secretary denied the move, saying that it was a violation of the Affordable Care Act. That Act requires states accepting Medicaid funds to maintain their eligibility standards for children until 2019.
The state of Maine argued that, among other things, the disapproval violates Maine's right to equal sovereignty. Even Maine Attorney General Janet Mills argued that the federal government's action was appropriate in this case.
The First Circuit found that a state's ability to set conditions of eligibility for participation in a federal health insurance program that is funded primarily by the federal government is "not a core sovereign state function."
"We deny the petition for review and find no constitutional violation, " the Court writes.
Jack Comart, with the group Maine Equal Justice Partners, says the decision is important for two reasons.
"It's important, not only for the 6,000 19- and 20-year-old children who will continue to maintain their health coverage, but also it means that for all children in Maine who are in the MaineCare program there can be no reductions in eligibility until at least 2019. So it's good for all children in Maine to know that their health care coverage will continue."
A request for comment from Maine's DHHS was not immediately returned.
