filed suit against the state in 2019, accusing the North Carolina State Health Plan of discriminating against them or their children.Attorneys for the state had argued that the state could not be sued under a legal doctrine known as “sovereign immunity,” but last year, a federal judge ruled that the state could be sued for violating nondiscrimination provisions contained in Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, on the grounds that it had waived its sovereign immunity and agreed to abide by the ACA’s conditions by accepting federal funds.
The state appealed the case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled to uphold the lower court’s decision on Wednesday.