The Supreme Court issued a decision today that impacts the power of the states to control insurance contracts.
In
Coventry Health Care v. Nevils, SCOTUS overturned a decision by the Missouri Supreme Court, according to a
Fortune report. The high court ruled 8-0 that federal law superseded a Missouri state law that prohibited insurance companies from collecting medical expenses from policyholders’ lawsuit winnings.
In the case in question, Coventry had tried to collect $6,592 in medical expenses from plaintiff Jodie Nevils. The insurer wanted to collect the money from the proceeds of a lawsuit Nevils had won against the driver of the other vehicle in the accident, according to
Fortune.
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Missouri is one of several states that have laws prohibiting insurers from collecting in those cases. But the high court ruled that the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause meant that federal law governing health policies for government employees trumped any state law regarding payment of benefits.
The court reversed the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision and remanded the case back to the state court for further consideration. The Supreme Court’s newest justice, Neil Gorsuch, sat the case out, having heard his first oral arguments as a Supreme Court justice only Monday.
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