Supreme Court begins new term with Medicaid case

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court began its new term Monday by weighing who gets to object when a state makes Medicaid cuts — and soon is likely to plunge into a far bigger health dispute. That’s the challenge to President Barack Obama’s historic health care overhaul.

For now, patients and providers are squaring off against California and the Obama administration to argue they should have the right to sue in federal court when a state cuts its payment rates in the Medicaid program for poor Americans. The state and federal governments argue the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, not a federal judge, gets to make the call.