Biden v. Missouri

Biden v. Missouri

Opinion

 [**435]   [*650]  Per Curiam.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services administers the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which provide health insurance for millions of elderly, disabled, and low-income Americans. In November 2021, the Secretary announced that, in order to receive Medicare and Medicaid funding, participating facilities must ensure that their staff—unless exempt for medical or religious reasons—are vaccinated against COVID-19. 86 Fed. Reg. 61555 (2021). Two District Courts enjoined enforcement of the  [**436]  rule, and the Government now asks us to stay those injunctions. Agreeing that it is entitled to such relief, we grant the applications.

The Medicare program provides health insurance to individuals 65 and older, as well as those with specified disabilities. The Medicaid program does the same for those with low incomes. ] Both Medicare and Medicaid are administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who has general statutory authority to promulgate regulations “as may be necessary to the efficient administration of the functions with which [he] is charged.” 42 U. S. C. §1302(a).

] One such function—perhaps the most basic, given [***2]  the Department’s core mission—is to ensure that the healthcare providers who care for Medicare and Medicaid patients protect their patients’ health and safety. Such providers include hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory surgical centers, hospices, rehabilitation facilities, and more. To that end, Congress authorized the Secretary to promulgate, as a condition of a facility’s participation in the programs, such “requirements as [he] finds necessary in the interest of the health and safety of individuals who are furnished services in the institution.” 42 U. S. C. §1395x(e)(9) (hospitals); see, e.g., §§1395x(cc)(2)(J) (outpatient rehabilitation facilities), 1395i-3(d)(4)(B) (skilled nursing facilities), 1395k(a)(2)(F)(i) (ambulatory surgical centers); see also §§1396r(d)(4)(B), 1396d(l)(1), 1396d(o) (corresponding provisions in Medicaid Act).

Relying on these authorities, the Secretary has established long lists of detailed conditions with which facilities must comply to be eligible to receive Medicare and Medicaid funds. See, e.g., 42 CFR pt. 482 (2020) (hospitals); 42 CFR pt. 483 (long-term care facilities); 42 CFR §§416.25-416.54 (ambulatory surgical centers). Such conditions have long included a requirement  [*651]  that certain providers maintain and enforce an “infection prevention and control program designed . . . to help prevent the development and [***3]  transmission of communicable diseases and infections.” §483.80 (long-term care facilities); see, e.g., §§482.42(a) (hospitals), 416.51(b) (ambulatory surgical centers), 485.725 (facilities that provide outpatient physical therapy and speech-language pathology services).

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