On July 2, the United States Supreme Court granted certiori in Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, another Affordable Care Act Section 1557 case. The Fifth Circuit created a circuit split by affirming the lower court dismissal, finding that damages for emotional distress were not available under Section 1557. In In Barnes v. Gorman, the Supreme Court had found that the remedies contained in Title VI for victims of discrimination were expressly incorporated into other antidiscrimination law, including Section 1557 The question presented in this appeal is whether the compensatory damages available under Title VI and the statutes that incorporate its remedies include compensation for emotional distress.
In a status report filed last month in the Whitman Walker Clinic v. HHS litigation over the validity of a Section 1557 rule that was promulgated in 2020, HHS informed the United States District Court for the District of Columbia that HHS is engaged in a revision of the challenged rule.