On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court, in United States v. Windsor, 570 U.S. __, 133 S. Ct. 2675
(2013), invalidated Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which provided federal
definitions of marriage and spouse that precluded federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
The purpose of this guidance is to advise you of the implications of the Windsor decision for
Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). As discussed below, because
Section 3 of DOMA no longer controls the definition of marriage or spouse under the federal
framework for state Medicaid and CHIP programs, DOMA is no longer a bar to states
recognizing same-sex marriages in Medicaid or CHIP.