Opinion ID: 462745
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other Fifth Amendment Arguments

Text: 28 Appellants raise two other Fifth Amendment challenges that warrant only brief discussion. First, appellants argue that the temporary freeze on their actual charges to Medicare patients constitutes a taking of their property without just compensation in violation of the Fifth Amendment. This contention, however, lacks merit. It is well established that government price regulation does not constitute a taking of property where the regulated group is not required to participate in the regulated industry. See, e.g., Bowles v. Willingham, 321 U.S. 503, 517-18, 64 S.Ct. 641, 648-49, 88 L.Ed. 892 (1944) (rent controls do not constitute prohibited taking because statute did not require landlords to offer their apartments for rent); Minnesota Ass'n of Health Care Facilities, Inc., 742 F.2d at 446 (state statute limiting fees nursing homes participating in Medicaid Program may charge to non-Medicaid patients is not taking within meaning of the Fifth Amendment because the state does not require that nursing homes admit medical assistance residents and participate in the Medicaid Program). In the instant case, appellants are not required to treat Medicare patients, and the temporary freeze is therefore not a taking within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment. 12 29 Appellants' next contention is that the temporary fee freeze and the federal monitoring of non-participating physicians' billing practices infringe the liberty of contract protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. 13 We find this claim to be totally lacking in merit. In order for the challenged provisions to infringe appellants' liberty of contract, they must bear no rational relationship to any legitimate purpose of the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984. See, e.g., West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish, 300 U.S. 379, 391-92, 57 S.Ct. 578, 581-82, 81 L.Ed. 703 (1937). As discussed above, the temporary fee freeze is rationally related to legitimate congressional objectives. Moreover, federal monitoring of the billing practices of non-participating physicians is a reasonable means for determining whether these physicians are complying with the temporary freeze.