Schweiker v. McClure

McClure (plaintiff) had his Medicare Part B reimbursement claim denied and, at a hearing before an officer typically selected by the private insurance carrier administering the program (sometimes a current or former carrier employee), received an adverse decision with no further review available. He brought a class action against HHS Secretary Schweiker (defendant), arguing the hearing procedure violated due process because of the hearing officers' close ties to the carriers; the district court agreed, finding both a bias risk from carrier ties and that due process required a hearing before one of the Secretary's own administrative law judges instead, ordering new ALJ hearings for the class.