Ramey v. Reinertson

HENRY, Circuit Judge.

This appeal requires our examination of the Social Security Act (“Act”), in particular those provisions relating to the Medicaid program, established in 1965, see 42 U.S.C. § 1396a. We recognize, as have other courts, that “[t]he Social Security Act is among the most intricate ever drafted by Congress. Its Byzantine construction, as Judge Friendly has observed, makes the Act ‘almost unintelligible to the uninitiated.’ ” Schweiker v. Gray Panthers, 453 U.S. 34, 43, 101 S.Ct. 2633, 69 L.Ed.2d 460 (1981) (hereinafter Gray Panthers) (quoting Friedman v. Berger, 547 F.2d 724,…