Good Samaritan Hospital, et al. v. Donna E. Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services (508 U.S. 402)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 7, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 508 U.S. 402 · 113 S. Ct. 2151
- Decided
- June 7, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice White
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice White delivered the opinion of the Court. As a means of providing health care to the aged and disabled, Congress enacted the Medicare program in 1965. See Title XVIII of the Social Security Act, 79 Stat. 291, as amended, 42 U. S. C. § 1395 et seq. Under the program, providers of health care services can enter into agreements with the Secretary of Health and Human Services pursuant to which they are reimbursed for certain costs associated with the treatment of Medicare beneficiaries. To operate the program, the Secretary issued regulations imposing limits on the amount of repayment based on a range of factors designed to approximate the cost of providing general routine patient service. The question before us is whether the Secretary must afford the six petitioning hospitals an opportunity to establish that they are entitled to reimbursement for costs in excess of such limits. I A A complex statutory and regulatory regime governs reimbursement, rough description of which is necessary background to this case. To begin, Congress has required the Secretary to repay the lesser of the “reasonable cost” or “customary charg[e].” See 42 U. S. C. § 1395f(b)(l). Rather than attempt to define “reasonable cost” with precision, Congress empowered the Secretary to issue appropriate regulations setting forth the methods to be used in computing such costs. See § ISDSxCvXlXA). Prior to…
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