Belshe

We address here a question of first impression, not only in this Circuit but (understandably in light of the recency of the legislation involved) in any court: whether a congressional enactment adopted in August 1997, but stating that it is retroactive and applicable to pending cases, calls for approval of the reading that has been given to the pre-enactment version of the same legislation by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“Secretary”). Because -We answer that question in the affirmative, we reverse all three decisions below.

All three of these sets of appeals pose a common problem: whether the State of California may choose to limit certain payments, as required by statute to be made to enroll poor people-qualified Medicare beneficiaries (“QMBs”)-in the Medicare insurance program, to the amount by which California’s Medicaid rate exceeds what Medicare has paid. Those payments, required from all participating states under the Medicaid Act, extend to deductibles, coinsurance and co-payments that the QMBs cannot bear fully and that the State is required to pay on their behalf (whether totally or in part is at stake in these…