The U.S. Justice Department has told a federal court it will intervene in a lawsuit accusing Planned Parenthood of improperly collecting Medicaid payments while Texas was moving to cut it from the program, according to a filing dated Nov. 6. The filing came days after Texas voters elected Democrat Nathan Johnson as the state's next attorney general, the Texas Tribune reported.
Texas is seeking more than $1.8 billion in reimbursement, penalties, and fees over more than $10 million in Medicaid payments, KSAT reported. Planned Parenthood calls the case meritless and has said a loss would force it to shut down in Texas.
The allegations have not been proven. The case, with a jointly proposed trial date in April 2027, could shape where Texans who rely on Planned Parenthood for birth control, cancer screening, and sexually transmitted infection testing receive that care.
The case was filed in 2021 under the federal False Claims Act by an anonymous plaintiff, and Texas joined in 2022 under outgoing Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. It accuses Planned Parenthood of continuing to bill the Texas and Louisiana Medicaid programs after the states' initial termination decisions, and of failing to repay that money once the terminations took effect.
Texas argues that Planned Parenthood lost the right to Medicaid reimbursement in February 2017, when it declined to appeal a state termination notice, according to the Texas Tribune's earlier reporting....
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