Watson

Seven Medicaid-eligible Oregon residents and the Oregon Advocacy Center (collectively the “Plaintiffs”) appeal the district court’s order dismissing their action against Oregon state health officials, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Their appeal presents an issue of first impression for this circuit: whether certain provisions of the Medicaid Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1396a(a)(10) and 1396a(a)(17), create individual rights enforceable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (“section 1983”).

The seven individual plaintiffs, who are seniors and disabled individuals, had received home and community-based services as an alternative to Medicaid institutional nursing facility services. They lost their Medicaid eligibility, however, when the Oregon Department of Human Services (the “Department”) scaled back the state’s Medicaid program in the face of a budget crisis. Plaintiffs sued officials in the Department under section 1983 in federal district court. The individual plaintiffs alleged that they required the level of care that entitles them to nursing facility services under the Medicaid Act. They further alleged that the Department’s actions violated both section 1396a(a)(10), which requires…