WOOHOO! COURT WHACKS KENNEDY AND HHS WITH SUMMARY JUDGEMENT IN FAVOR OF GENDER AFFIRMING CARE
I wanted to wait until the published order came out, but so far it hasn’t come out, and I don’t want to wait any longer (I have the minute order). Last Thursday Judge Mustafa Kasubhai of the Federal District Court of Oregon issued *summary judgement* in favour of 20 plaintiff states (and D.C.) that filed this lawsuit challenging HHS and Kennedy’s declaration (“the Declaration”) barring health providers who provide gender affirming care from participating in Medicare and Medicaid. Kennedy claimed that the Declaration didn’t do that, but it very much does.
The plaintiffs are Oregon (they are the lead plaintiff) along with Washington, New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.
The basics of this lawsuit are that in December Kennedy issued and posted a 12-page declaration against gender affirming care. (The Declaration, along with the lawsuit Complaint, the States’ motion for summary judgement, HHS/Kennedy’s response, and the text of the minute order ordering summary judgement, are all included for Notes from the Front members).
The plaintiffs say that not only does the Declaration prohibit medical practitioners who provide gender affirming care from participating in Medicaid and Medicare, but that in fact HHS has already referred at least three children’s hospitals to the HHS Office of Inspector General based on the Declaration. They also point out that this interferes with the States’ sovereign ability to regulate healthcare within their borders.
And yet, says Kennedy and HHS in their response, the Declaration says no such thing. Nowhere does it say that healthcare practitioners who provide gender affirming care cannot participate in Medicaid and Medicare.
And you will see them saying this throughout their response.
And they’re right.
And, of course, they are also disingenuous.
Because what it *does* say is that, among other things, “Sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective as a treatment modality for gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, or other related disorders in minors, and therefore, fail to meet professional recognized standards of health care.”
That “fail to meet professional recognized standards of health care” is *very* important here. Why? Because 42 U.S. Code §1320a-7, which is the Medicare and Medicaid Exclusion Act (full title: “Exclusion of certain individuals and entities from participation in Medicare and State health care programs of certain individuals and entities from participation in Medicare and State health care programs”), at §6(b), specifically spells out that, among the felons and fraudsters who can be excluded from participating in Medicare and Medicaid, the Secretary can *also* exclude, and I quote:
“Any individual or entity that the Secretary determines has furnished or caused to be furnished items or services to patients…of a quality WHICH FAILS TO MEET PROFESSIONALLY RECOGNIZED STANDARDS OF HEALTH CARE.” (I added the caps)
Fortunately Judge Kasubhai saw through this ruse, and issued the summary judgement (which I know from the minute order). While we don’t yet have the written order, we can imagine that what it does is vacate the Declaration, as that is what the Plaintiff states were asking for.
Notes from the Front members: The States’ Complaint (which is the initial filing which starts a lawsuit), their Motion for Summary Judgement, HHS’ response, and a copy of the minute order, are in your inbox now.
Not a Notes from the Front member and want to read the documents? You can find them with a google search, or you can join us below for just $5 a month to always get all the documents with all of my articles right in your inbox, access to our private chat, the document archives, and all the Epstein documents (even the disappeared ones)Join now at the link below, which will also give you immediate access to this post’s documents as soon as you join:
https://annepmitchell.substack.com/p/woohoo-court-whacks-kennedy-and-hhs
Source