Note:
J. Stockton Williams, Administrative Law—Due Process—A Formal Hearing Is Not Required Before Medicare Reimbursements Are Withheld. Wilson Clinic & Hospital, Inc. v. Blue Cross (4th Cir. 1974), 53 TEXAS L. REV. 362 (1975).
 

Abstract:
Under the Supreme Court’s ruling in Goldberg v. Kelly, procedural due process requires an evidentiary hearing before a government agency discontinues welfare benefits. Wilson Clinic was a factually unique case insofar as the statutory beneficiary was an institution providing benefits for others, namely a medical clinic. The Fourth Circuit purported to apply the balancing test of Goldberg, weighing the government’s interest in summary decisionmaking against the recipient’s interest in avoiding loss of property. In holding that a formal hearing was not required before withholding medicare reimbursements to the clinic, the court reasoned that the slight government interest was balanced by the lack of any great need on the part of the clinic. In this note, the author argues that the Fourth Circuit misapplied the Goldberg balancing test. Further, the author shifts some of the blame from the Fourth Circuit to the Supreme Court for failing to articulate that the Goldberg balancing test mandates a prior hearing whenever the government threatens to discontinue statutorily granted funds.