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Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Company, an Illinois Nonprofit Mutual Insurance Corporation v. United States

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 2017-1224 · judgment June 14, 2018

Decided · April 27, 2020
Pre-decision estimate: 10% cert probability (95% interval 6%–15%)

Before the decision, about 2.3× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and a Federal Circuit decision below.

Question presented

Consolidated with 18-1023. This case involves the "risk corridors" program established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ACA''), 42 U.S.C. § 18062, which mandates that for the first three years of the ACA, the Government "shall pay" mathematically determined amounts to health insurers based on a statutory formula in order to induce them to participate in health insurance exchanges and to reduce the premiums they would otherwise charge. In this case, the Federal Circuit held on the basis of legislative history that the Government's obligation to make risk corridors payments was extinguished by appropriations riders temporarily foreclosing certain sources of funds for the risk corridors program. The riders were included in spending bills enacted several years after the ACA was adopted - and after Petitioner had already performed its part of the bargain under the risk corridors program. The Question Presented is: Whether a temporary cap on appropriations availability from certain specified funding sources may be construed, based on its legislative history, to abrogate retroactively the Government's payment obligations under a money-mandating statute, for parties that have already performed their part of the bargain under the statute.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jonathan S. Massey
Massey & Gail LLP

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage

Related
Vide, 18-1023, 18-1028

Argument & decision

Argued December 10, 2019 — Paul D. Clement · Edwin S. Kneedler. Audio and transcript

Decided April 27, 2020. Opinion by Sotomayor.

Proceedings

  1. May 29 2020
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Apr 27 2020
    Judgment REVERSED and case REMANDED. Sotomayor, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan, and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined, and in which Thomas and Gorsuch, JJ., joined as to all but Part III–C. Alito, J., filed a dissenting opinion. VIDED.
  3. Dec 10 2019
    Argued. For petitioners: Paul D. Clement, Washington, D. C. For respondent: Edwin S. Kneedler, Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. VIDED.
  4. Nov 05 2019
    Record received from the U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit is electronic and located on Pacer.
  5. Oct 25 2019
    CIRCULATED
  6. Oct 23 2019
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit.
  7. Sep 13 2019
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, December 10, 2019. VIDED.
  8. Jun 24 2019
    Petition GRANTED. The petitions for writs of certiorari in No. 18-1023 and No. 18-1028 are granted. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. VIDED.
  9. Jun 24 2019
    Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 18-1023. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 18-1023. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the filing is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.” (July 17, 2019)
  10. Jun 17 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/20/2019.
  11. May 28 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/13/2019.
  12. May 24 2019
    Reply of petitioner Land of Lincoln Mutual Health Insurance Company, An Illinois Nonprofit Mutual Insurance Company filed. (Distributed)
  13. May 08 2019
    Brief of respondent United States in opposition filed. VIDED.
  14. Apr 01 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including May 8, 2019.
  15. Mar 29 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 8, 2019 to May 8, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  16. Mar 08 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Economists, et al. filed. VIDED
  17. Mar 08 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Blue Cross Blue Shield Association filed. VIDED
  18. Feb 27 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 8, 2019.
  19. Feb 26 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from March 11, 2019 to April 8, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  20. Feb 25 2019
    Motion of United States for an extension of time not accepted for filing. (February 26, 2019 - corrected letter to be submitted)
  21. Feb 04 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 11, 2019)