Matthews v. Leavitt

JOSÉ A. CABRANES, Circuit Judge.

We consider here whether an Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) adjudicating a dispute over entitlement to benefits pursuant to the terms of an agreement between an enrollee and a Medicare + Choice provider under Medicare Part C 1 has statuto*147ry authority to hear a state law contract claim for damages independent of the ALJ’s determination of the enrollee’s entitlement to benefits pursuant to the agreement. We hold that an ALJ lacks statutory authority to entertain such a claim, and that the ALJ here properly declined to hear Matthews’s claim for breach of contract…