Amicus Briefs

July 2, 2019

DREDF Files Amicus Brief In Ninth Circuit ACA Discrimination Case

On July 1, 2019, DREDF filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit clarifying the proper standard of disability discrimination under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act ("ACA"). The case, Doe v. CVS Pharmacy, Inc., challenges CVS Caremark's practice of only providing HIV/AIDS drugs via mail-order or drop-shipment to a CVS store (without the opportunity for an in-person pharmacy consultation). DREDF's brief provides an objective analysis of how disability nondiscrimination legal principles apply to the private health insurance context, with a focus on how benefit exclusions and limitations can serve to inhibit people with disabilities from accessing the services and devices that they need to equally participate in their communities. Joining DREDF as amici was Disability Right Advocates, Disability Rights Legal Center, the National Health Law Program, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

June 3, 2019 DREDF, with Justice in Aging and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, filed an amicus brief supporting a challenge to HHS' approval of New Hampshire's 1115 Medicaid Waiver, which conditions Medicaid eligibility on meeting work requirements for many persons under 65, and eliminates retroactive Medicaid coverage. The challenge argues that waiver restrictions are unrelated to, and actually impede, the goals of the Medicaid program.

January 2019
DREDF filed two amicus briefs in the U.S. Court of the Appeals for Ninth Circuit, in support of the Plaintiffs-Appellants discriminatory health benefit design claims. The cases, Schmitt v. Kaiser and E.S. v. Regence Blueshield, challenge the private health plans' exclusions of hearing loss treatments (including hearing aids) as disability discrimination under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act ("ACA"). DREDF's brief focuses on how the hearing loss exclusions violate longstanding principles of disability nondiscrimination law; undermine the purposes of the ACA; and inhibit people with hearing disabilities from accessing the services and devices that they need to equally access education, employment, and public services and  effectively participate in their communities.