Cite as: 529 U. S. 1 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
tions'—i. e., those [matters] . . . remitted finally and exclusively to adjudication by private insurance carriers in a 'fair hearing.' By the same token, matters which Congress did not delegate to private carriers, such as challenges to the validity of the Secretary's instructions and regulations, are cognizable in courts of law." Id., at 680 (footnote omitted).
The Court's words do not limit the scope of § 405(h) itself to instances where a plaintiff, invoking § 1331, seeks review of an "amount determination." Rather, the Court said that it would "not pass on the meaning of § 405(h) in the abstract." Ibid. (emphasis added). Instead it focused upon the Medicare Act's cross-referencing provision, § 1395ii, which makes § 405(h) applicable "to the same extent as" it is "applicable" to the Social Security Act. (Emphasis added.) It interpreted that phrase as applying § 405(h) "mutatis mutandis," i. e., "[a]ll necessary changes having been made." Black's Law Dictionary 1039 (7th ed. 1999). And it applied § 1395ii with one important change of detail—a change produced by not applying § 405(h) where its application to a particular category of cases, such as Medicare Part B "methodology" challenges, would not lead to a channeling of review through the agency, but would mean no review at all. The Court added that a " 'serious constitutional question' . . . would arise if we construed § 1395ii to deny a judicial forum for constitutional claims arising under Part B." 476 U. S., at 681, n. 12 (quoting Salfi, 422 U. S., at 762 (citing Johnson v. Robison, 415 U. S. 361, 366-367 (1974))).
More than that: Were the Court of Appeals correct in believing that Michigan Academy limited the scope of § 405(h) itself to "amount determinations," that case would have significantly affected not only Medicare Part B cases but cases arising under the Social Security Act and Medicare Part A as well. It accordingly would have overturned or dramatically limited this Court's earlier precedents, such as Salfi and Ringer, which involved, respectively, those programs.
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