American Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sullivan, 526 U.S. 40, 16 (1999)

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Cite as: 526 U. S. 40 (1999)

Opinion of the Court

statute and regulations, the Bureau's participation is limited to requiring insurers to file "a form prescribed by the Bureau," 34 Pa. Code § 127.452, processing the request for technical compliance, and then forwarding the matter to a URO and informing the parties that utilization review has been requested. In Blum, we rejected the notion that the State, "by requiring completion of a form," 457 U. S., at 1007, is responsible for the private party's decision. The additional "paper shuffling" performed by the Bureau here in response to an insurers' request does not alter that conclusion.

Respondents next contend that state action is present because the State has delegated to insurers "powers traditionally exclusively reserved to the State." Jackson, 419 U. S., at 352. Their argument here is twofold. Relying on West v. Atkins, 487 U. S. 42 (1988), respondents first argue that workers' compensation benefits are state-mandated "public benefits," and that the State has delegated the provision of these "public benefits" to private insurers. They also contend that the State has delegated to insurers the traditionally exclusive government function of determining whether and under what circumstances an injured worker's medical benefits may be suspended. The Court of Appeals apparently agreed on both points, stating that insurers "providing public benefits which honor State entitlements . . . become an arm of the State, fulfilling a uniquely governmental obligation," 139 F. 3d, at 168, and that "[t]he right to invoke the supersedeas, or to stop payments, is a power that traditionally was held in the hands of the State," ibid.

We think neither argument has merit. West is readily distinguishable: There the State was constitutionally obligated to provide medical treatment to injured inmates, and the delegation of that traditionally exclusive public function to a private physician gave rise to a finding of state action. See 487 U. S., at 54-56. Here, on the other hand, nothing in Pennsylvania's Constitution or statutory scheme obligates the State to provide either medical treatment or work-

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