The Fourth Circuit held, for the third time, that Medicaid's "free-choice-of-provider" provision can be enforced through a § 1983 "and laws" action. That provision guarantees Medicaid patients the right to choose their health-care provider; the lawsuit challenges South Carolina's attempt to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds (this is an ongoing issue in many states). The court had previously reached this conclusion, but the judgment was vacated for reconsideration in light of Talevski. The court reads Talevski as follows:
We agree that enforceable rights under § 1983 are dependent on congressional authorization, which under no circumstances may be casually implied. While Talevski offered an illuminating analysis of the issue before us and a useful new example of provisions enforceable via § 1983, we do not read it as toppling the existing doctrinal regime. And even if Talevski could be read as embracing a wholly new test, we hold that the free-choice-of-provider provision passes it
