Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Medicaid Cuts Spur Lawsuit
This may be the only way out of this mess: a series of lawsuits leading back to Washington, D.C.. The cuts to Medicaid are cuts at a targeted and vulnerable population; there’s nobody with any clout who speaks for these people. The administration wants to cut as much spending as it can, without offending any of it’s donors. There are very few donors who are also on Medicaid; therefore, it’s a safe target.
Oregon, of course, doesn’t have the money. It’s like the No Child Left Behind Act: the orders are laid down but there’s no money to pay for them. Oregon’s nearly broke. The schools are wretched, the highways crumbling, and tens of thousands of working people have to depend on free or reduced-cost clinics. But looking around town, I see half-million dollar houses going up one after another; there are nice cars on the streets, and people are spending money—on themselves. Nobody’s spending money on the poor, sick, young, and old. And nobody in Washington, D.C., believes that the vulnerable need to be protected.
Appeals court says Medicaid patients can sue state
2/9/2006, 4:17 p.m. PT
The Associated Press
http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-14/113953105518410.xml&storylist=orlocal
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Elderly and disabled people the Oregon Legislature cut from the Oregon Health Plan in 2003 can sue the state for nursing home care, an appeals court has ruled.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to a federal trial court in Portland.
The case involves more than 3,000 people whose nursing care was halted when the state narrowed eligibility requirements to help balance the budget.
Oregon officials estimated that the cuts would affect more than 10,000 people, including 385 who lived in licensed nursing homes, the court said. Legislators later restored some of the funding.
The Oregonians sued under a section of the federal Medicaid law that requires states to provide specific levels of nursing care to low-income aged and disabled residents. The ruling returns the case to a lower court to determine whether Oregon violated the law. The Oregon Health Plan is the state's version of the federal-state Medicaid program for low-income people.
The ruling is binding in the nine states covered by the court, including California, which has not made similar reductions in publicly funded nursing care. But the recently passed federal Deficit Reduction Act will require cuts in Medicaid that could lead to lawsuits under Wednesday's ruling, said attorney Jeanne Finberg of the National Senior Citizens Law Center in Oakland.
The Oregon suit was dismissed in 2004 by a federal judge who said the law requiring nursing services could be enforced only by the federal government — which can cut off funding to states for noncompliance — and not by private citizens. The appeals court disagreed in a 3-0 ruling, saying the law had been designed to protect the rights of patients who lack adequate redress at the state level.
Plaintiffs' attorney Lauren Saunders of the National Senior Citizens Law Center in Washington, D.C., said some of the seven Oregon residents who sued had regained eligibility for nursing services when their conditions worsened.
Saunders said she hopes the suit can now be settled.
Kevin Neely, spokesman for Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers, said the state will work with the plaintiffs to determine the next steps in the case.
The ruling gives legislators "a better understanding of the consequences of their action," Neely said. He said the Democratic attorney general advised the Republican-controlled Legislature that a lawsuit was inevitable when the cuts were first proposed in 2001, "but they ran out of options and had to cut somewhere."
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Oregon, of course, doesn’t have the money. It’s like the No Child Left Behind Act: the orders are laid down but there’s no money to pay for them. Oregon’s nearly broke. The schools are wretched, the highways crumbling, and tens of thousands of working people have to depend on free or reduced-cost clinics. But looking around town, I see half-million dollar houses going up one after another; there are nice cars on the streets, and people are spending money—on themselves. Nobody’s spending money on the poor, sick, young, and old. And nobody in Washington, D.C., believes that the vulnerable need to be protected.
Appeals court says Medicaid patients can sue state
2/9/2006, 4:17 p.m. PT
The Associated Press
http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-14/113953105518410.xml&storylist=orlocal
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Elderly and disabled people the Oregon Legislature cut from the Oregon Health Plan in 2003 can sue the state for nursing home care, an appeals court has ruled.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to a federal trial court in Portland.
The case involves more than 3,000 people whose nursing care was halted when the state narrowed eligibility requirements to help balance the budget.
Oregon officials estimated that the cuts would affect more than 10,000 people, including 385 who lived in licensed nursing homes, the court said. Legislators later restored some of the funding.
The Oregonians sued under a section of the federal Medicaid law that requires states to provide specific levels of nursing care to low-income aged and disabled residents. The ruling returns the case to a lower court to determine whether Oregon violated the law. The Oregon Health Plan is the state's version of the federal-state Medicaid program for low-income people.
The ruling is binding in the nine states covered by the court, including California, which has not made similar reductions in publicly funded nursing care. But the recently passed federal Deficit Reduction Act will require cuts in Medicaid that could lead to lawsuits under Wednesday's ruling, said attorney Jeanne Finberg of the National Senior Citizens Law Center in Oakland.
The Oregon suit was dismissed in 2004 by a federal judge who said the law requiring nursing services could be enforced only by the federal government — which can cut off funding to states for noncompliance — and not by private citizens. The appeals court disagreed in a 3-0 ruling, saying the law had been designed to protect the rights of patients who lack adequate redress at the state level.
Plaintiffs' attorney Lauren Saunders of the National Senior Citizens Law Center in Washington, D.C., said some of the seven Oregon residents who sued had regained eligibility for nursing services when their conditions worsened.
Saunders said she hopes the suit can now be settled.
Kevin Neely, spokesman for Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers, said the state will work with the plaintiffs to determine the next steps in the case.
The ruling gives legislators "a better understanding of the consequences of their action," Neely said. He said the Democratic attorney general advised the Republican-controlled Legislature that a lawsuit was inevitable when the cuts were first proposed in 2001, "but they ran out of options and had to cut somewhere."
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
