The nation's highest court has decided not to hear appeals from states seeking to bar Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood, The New York Times reported.
U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch said Dec. 10 they were willing to hear the cases, according to The Times. But none of the other court members, including Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, provided the required fourth vote.
Justice Thomas, in his dissenting opinion, said the issue in the appeals is whether federal law allows individuals to sue if a state cuts Medicaid funding to a provider such as Planned Parenthood. He said the cases are not about abortion rights.
"They are about private rights of action under the Medicaid Act. Resolving the question presented here would not even affect Planned Parenthood's ability to challenge the states' decisions; it concerns only the rights of individual Medicaid patients to bring their own suits," he wrote.
He said the issue is "important and recurring."
"Around 70 million Americans are on Medicaid, and the question presented directly affects their rights. If the majority of the courts of appeals are correct, then Medicaid patients could sue when, for example, a state removes their doctor as a Medicaid provider or inadequately reimburses their provider," wrote Justice Thomas.
Medicaid funding does not cover abortions. Lower courts decided that states have broad but limited power to determine which healthcare providers may be part of their Medicaid programs, according to The Times.
Read the full Times report here.