60
Opinion of the Court
ployer is obligated to pay for certain benefits, including partial wage replacement, compensation for permanent injury or disability, and medical care. See 77 Pa. Stat. Ann. §§ 431, 531 (Purdon Supp. 1998). It follows from this, the argument goes, that medical benefits are a state-created entitlement, and thus an insurer cannot withhold payment of medical benefits without affording an injured worker due process.
In Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U. S. 254 (1970), we held that an individual receiving federal welfare assistance has a statutorily created property interest in the continued receipt of those benefits. Likewise, in Mathews, supra, we recognized that the same was true for an individual receiving Social Security disability benefits. In both cases, an individual's entitlement to benefits had been established, and the question presented was whether predeprivation notice and a hearing were required before the individual's interest in continued payment of benefits could be terminated. See Goldberg, supra, at 261-263; Mathews, supra, at 332.
Respondents' property interest in this case, however, is fundamentally different. Under Pennsylvania law, an employee is not entitled to payment for all medical treatment once the employer's initial liability is established, as respondents' argument assumes. Instead, the law expressly limits an employee's entitlement to "reasonable" and "necessary" medical treatment, and requires that disputes over the reasonableness and necessity of particular treatment must be resolved before an employer's obligation to pay— and an employee's entitlement to benefits—arise. See 77 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 531(1)(i) (Purdon Supp. 1998) ("The employer shall provide payment . . . for reasonable surgical and medical services" (emphasis added)); § 531(5) ("All payments to providers for treatment . . . shall be made within thirty (30) days of receipt of such bills and records unless the employer or insurer disputes the reasonableness or necessity of the treatment" (emphasis added)). Thus, for an employee's property interest in the payment of medical benefits to attach under state law, the employee must clear two
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