U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk held a hearing Tuesday to hear a case filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asking for reimbursement of the Medicaid payments Planned Parenthood continued to collect after the state kicked the organization out of the state’s Medicaid program in 2021. Paxton, now suspended, filed the lawsuit last year under the False Claims Act.

The False Claims Act establishes liability for health care fraud and allows fines for every incorrect payment.

Texas battled Planned Parenthood for four years before it ousted the organization from its Medicaid program. Planned Parenthood filed legal appeals and continued to collect Medicaid payments from the state during the appeals process. The state says PP should reimburse $17M in payments, in addition to fines that exceed that amount. Planned Parenthood told the court that the total judgement could be more than $1B.

“It is unthinkable that Planned Parenthood would continue to take advantage of funding knowing they were not entitled to keep it,” Paxton said at the time. “I will not allow them to benefit from this abhorrent conduct after they were caught violating medical standards and lying to law enforcement.”

Texas has tried to shut down Planned Parenthood for years. The nation’s largest abortion provider continues to operate clinics in Texas even after the state essentially banned abortions, due to its six-week cut-off. The lawsuit is being heard in Amarillo. The financial blow may be crippling to PP, however, the organization’s revenues remain healthy. It reported revenue of $1.9B and net assets of $2.3B, according to its 2022 annual report.

Planned Parenthood released a statement after the hearing.

Following the hearing, Planned Parenthood Federation of America general counsel Susan Manning said the lawsuit lacks merit and that the health care organization was legally able to receive Medicaid reimbursements.

“Planned Parenthood health centers provide health care services to thousands of Texans including birth control, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings and the like,” Manning said. “Planned Parenthood was paid for providing those services to patients with Medicaid coverage, just like any other health care provider, and just as the courts required. That is not fraud, it is providing health care and it is following the law.”

Judge Kacsmaryk is attacked by leftists for his reputation as a conservative-leaning judge. How dare President Trump nominate him in the first place?

President Donald Trump appointed Kacsmaryk, a religious conservative from Plano and former federal prosecutor, despite calls by LGBT-rights advocates to drop his name from consideration. He’s the sole district judge in Amarillo, meaning that he sees all cases filed in that court.

Kacsmaryk has made a name for himself as a sympathetic ear for lawyers trying conservative issues and a barrier for several Biden administration policies.

Oh, a “sympathetic ear.” Aren’t judges supposed to listen to both sides, not just the progressive lawyers? What a load of garbage. Kacsmaryk follows the law and the Constitution. He rules against policies when he sees fit, same as other judges.

Kacsmaryk is known for his ruling on one of the abortion pills, mifepristone, reversing its FDA approval. That ruling went to the Supreme Court and the Court kept the status quo.

Judge Kacsmaryk has not indicated when he will issue a ruling in the case. Stay tuned.