Will SCOTUS mend 'untenable' Medicaid reimbursement split?
An empty hospital bed in Madison, Wisconsin, REUTERS/Daniel Acker  (Reuters) - The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year created an untenable conflict between federal and Florida precedent on the extent of Medicaid reimbursement rights, attorneys for both sides said in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review the decision. On Thursday, the justices are scheduled to consider the certiorari petition filed by the parents of Gianinna Gallardo, who has been in a coma since she was hit by a truck as she got off a school bus in 2008. Her parents reached an $800,000 settlement with the alleged tortfeasors, of which just $35,000 was earmarked for past medical expenses. The 11th Circuit ruled that the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) was entitled to $300,000 of the settlement on behalf of the state-administered Medicaid program, which had spent more than $860,000 on Gallardos care. The 11th Circuit explicitly rejected a 2018 decision of the Florida Supreme Court, which had said the federal Medicaid Act preempted a state law that authorized AHCA to seek reimbursement from portions of (a settlement) that represent future medical expenses. Lower courts and a handful of state Supreme Courts are also divided on the question, Gallardo and AHCAs representatives both say. AHCA said the 11th Circuit reached the right result, but the U.S. Supreme Court must confirm it to resolve the conflict. Otherwise, under the 11th Circuits decision, the State has a duty to recover payments for future care, AHCA said. But if it fulfills that duty, it defies the Florida Supreme Courts ruling.  The case is Gianinna Gallardo, an Incapacitated Person, By and Through her Parents and Co-Guardians, v. Simone Marstiller, as Secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration  For Gallardo: Bryan Gowdy of Creed & Gowdy  For AHCA: Chief Deputy Solicitor James Hamilton Percival II, Florida Attorney Generals Office