Appellate Court Reviews Medicaid Fraud Case with Potential $1.8 Billion Impact on Planned Parenthood
An appellate court is now deliberating a case that could require Planned Parenthood to return up to $1.8 billion in Medicaid reimbursements from Texas and Louisiana, a matter of significant interest to both pro-life and abortion access advocates. This case, which has been ongoing for years, centers on the organization’s use of Medicaid funds following its disqualification by the states due to allegations of selling aborted fetal tissue.
Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of March for Life, emphasized the high stakes, stating that the lawsuit could potentially bankrupt Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit with hundreds of clinics across the country. She noted that the decision could have a transformative impact on the abortion landscape in the United States. Lichter pointed out that Planned Parenthood is facing a repayment obligation of close to $2 billion because it continued to receive Medicaid funds even after two states had already disqualified it, which could have serious implications for its national operations.
The case comes after Texas and Louisiana stripped Planned Parenthood affiliates of their Medicaid qualifications in response to activist David Daleiden releasing video footage showing Planned Parenthood staff discussing the sale of aborted fetal tissue. While Daleiden faced a lawsuit and prosecution for illegally recording the staff, his footage sparked significant attention within the pro-life movement, leading to increased efforts to weaken the nonprofit.
Planned Parenthood, however, sued Texas and Louisiana and initially won an injunction that allowed it to continue receiving the Medicaid reimbursements. However, the decision was later overturned on appeal. An anonymous litigant, named in court papers as ‘Alex Doe,’ then brought a new lawsuit on behalf of the two states seeking to reclaim the funds collected during the injunction period. Court documents indicate that the potential money Planned Parenthood could now owe—from reimbursement of the Medicaid dollars collected plus various multipliers—could add up to $1.8 billion. The exact amount would be determined by a jury in the lower court.
The issue before the 5th Circuit’s en banc panel is whether Planned Parenthood had immunity when it collected the four years’ worth of Medicaid dollars. Planned Parenthood argues that it had immunity because its counsel advised it to collect the payments during the injunction period. Thursday’s oral arguments came after a three-judge panel for the 5th Circuit comprising two Republican-appointed judges and one Democrat-appointed judge sided with Planned Parenthood. This ruling, however, will be reviewed by the full panel of the 5th Circuit.
Susan Manning, general counsel for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, criticized the Texas and Louisiana lawsuit as a ‘politically-motivated’ attempt to put the nonprofit out of business. She stated that Planned Parenthood health centers provide essential, high-quality health care to more than 2 million people nationwide every year. Separately, pro-life activists have made progress in their mission to defund Planned Parenthood this year as Congress voted to strip the nonprofit of Medicaid funding at the federal level for a one-year period. This move, however, faced opposition in a recent court ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, which sided against Planned Parenthood in the lawsuit over the measure.