High Court Seeks Input on Case

The U.S. Supreme Court is asking the Obama administration to weigh in as it considers whether to take up a case brought by the family of a girl with cerebral palsy who sought to bring her service dog to school.

The family of Ehlena Fry petitioned the Supreme Court to take their case last fall. Rather than accept or decline the case outright, however, the high court this week asked the U.S. solicitor general to provide the federal government’s viewpoint before the court decides whether to hear the matter.

Physicians: High Court's Medicaid Ruling Blocks Equal Access

Organized medicine is complaining that a 5-4 decision last week by the Supreme Court unfairly bars healthcare providers from suing state governments over paltry Medicaid rates.

With the door to the courthouse blocked, medical societies contend, there's little if anything they can do to force states to pay enough so that more physicians will accept Medicaid patients, ensuring equal access to care.

States Watch 2015 Health Care Issues

Much of the health-care conversations this year will concentrate on two issues with major budgetary and insurance coverage implications that Governing has previously covered. Those are the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision that could end federal subsidies in the 30-some states that don’t operate their own exchange, making insurance unaffordable for many, and whether Congress reauthorizes the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which covers 8 million kids from low-income families through state and federal funding.

Unfortunately for states, those are also both issues over which they have little control. There are, however, several other areas to watch over which states do have greater control and still others worth keeping an eye on where federal policymakers remain in the driver’s seat.