Carr v. Becerra, District of Connecticut

Executive Summary

Plaintiffs in Carr v. Becerra challenged an Interim Final Rule that required states to trim their Medicaid rolls in violation of the “Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” passed by Congress in March 2020. In exchange for receiving billions of dollars of additional federal funding, states are forbidden under that law from involuntarily terminating anyone in the state from Medicaid during the federally-declared COVID-19 public health emergency. The Interim Final Rule created new exceptions to this Congressional requirement out of whole cloth, changing federal policy that had been in place for eight months. As a result, thousands of older adults and individuals with disabilities lost crucial Medicaid benefits. Plaintiffs in Carr v Becerra asked the court to invalidate the rule and to restore benefits to persons who have lost Medicaid coverage.