In letting stand two decisions allowing patients to challenge state funding determinations, the Supreme Court effectively sided with Planned Parenthood.

In the cases the justices turned away on Monday, from Kansas and Louisiana, appeals courts acknowledged that states have broad power to decide which health care providers may supply services for the program. But that power has limits, the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver, ruled in the case from Kansas, Andersen v. Planned Parenthood of Kansas, No. 17-1340.

“States may not terminate providers from their Medicaid program for any reason they see fit, especially when that reason is unrelated to the provider’s competence and the quality of the health care it provides,” Judge Gregory A. Phillips wrote for a divided three-judge panel.

Five of the six appeals courts that have considered the issue sided with the clinics. The exception is the Eighth Circuit, in St. Louis, which last year allowed Arkansas to withdraw Medicaid financing for Planned Parenthood. Disagreement among federal appeals courts often prompts Supreme Court review.

Lawyers for Kansas had urged the justices to resolve the dispute.

“More than 70 million people — one out of every five Americans — are enrolled in Medicaid,” they told the Supreme Court. “The 10th Circuit’s decision permits any one of them to challenge a termination decision of an individual provider in federal court.”

Planned Parenthood’s local affiliates responded that Congress had meant to allow suits from patients in addition to federal supervision. The groups added that there was no reason to fear a flood of litigation.

“It would be wrong to assume that Medicaid recipients — some of the poorest members of our society — are enthusiastic about the prospect of bringing lawsuits against states,” their brief said. “They would much prefer that states just follow the rules and allow them to obtain health care from qualified and willing providers.”