[Vision2020] Some Medicaid Clients Sue Idaho Over Budget Cuts

[Moscow Cares]

Courtesy of KHQ at:

http://www.khq.com/story/16688536/some-medicaid-clients-sue-idaho-over-budget-cuts
 
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Some Medicaid clients sue Idaho over budget cuts

By REBECCA BOONE
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Twelve severely disabled Idaho residents are suing the state after the Department of Health and Welfare refused to disclose why it cut their Medicaid benefits by as much as 40%.

The plaintiffs are represented by Idaho Legal Aid attorney Ritchie Eppink, who describes his clients as Idaho's most vulnerable residents. All of them need supervision - some require 24-hour care - and all have multiple medical or mental health problems or developmental disabilities. They also all recently had their Medicaid benefits cut under a formula the state says it can't reveal, according to the lawsuit.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare says the formula is a trade secret.

On Friday U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the state to increase the plaintiffs' budgets pending a hearing.

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Seeya later, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Post Falls, Idaho

"If not us, who?
If not now, when?"

- Unknown


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