Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-1263diff_868c.pdf
Page Number: 6

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 20–1263 
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GIANINNA GALLARDO, AN INCAPACITATED PERSON, BY 
AND THROUGH HER PARENTS AND CO-GUARDIANS PILAR 
VASSALLO AND WALTER GALLARDO, PETITIONER 
v. SIMONE MARSTILLER, IN HER OFFICIAL CAPACITY 
AS SECRETARY OF THE FLORIDA AGENCY FOR 
HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATION 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT 

[June 6, 2022]

 JUSTICE THOMAS delivered the opinion of the Court. 
Medicaid requires participating States to pay for certain
needy individuals’ medical costs and then to make reason-
able efforts to recoup those costs from liable third parties. 
Consequently, a State must require Medicaid beneficiaries 
to assign the State “any rights . . . to payment for medical
care  from  any  third  party.”  42  U. S. C.  §1396k(a)(1)(A).
That  assignment  permits  a  State  to  seek  reimbursement 
from  the  portion  of  a  beneficiary’s  private  tort  settlement
that  represents  “payment  for  medical  care,”  ibid.,  despite
the Medicaid Act’s general prohibition against seeking re-
imbursement from a beneficiary’s “property,” §1396p(a)(1). 
The question presented is whether §1396k(a)(1)(A) permits
a State to seek reimbursement from settlement payments 
allocated for future medical care.  We conclude that it does.