Press Release

Alaska & Texas Lead Effort to Push Back on Federal Overreach from Health Dept. Rule

September 26, 2024

(Anchorage, AK) – Alaska and Texas are leading the effort to push back on federal overreach by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by fighting a new rule that ignores existing federal law and imposes unfunded mandates on the states.

The new rule imposes sweeping, expensive, and impracticable requirements on all recipients of any federal funding, including states and private healthcare providers. In some cases, the rule’s requirements are inconsistent with other federal standards for Medicaid.

“The rule is yet another example of the Biden administration attempting to subordinate state policy and fiscal judgments to the federal government. The requirements of the rule are impossible to meet and would be devastating to State Medicaid programs,” said Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor.

Compliance with the Final Rule would also require fundamentally altering the State’s systems, programs, and activities as well as its sovereign administration of the state.

Alaska, Texas and 15 other states are asking the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Texas to set aside the Final Rule, enjoin defendants from enforcing it and declare it unlawful. The 15 states include: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia.

• Texas v. Becerra, Complaint - 787KB PDF

# # #

Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.