Home-Bound Woman Obtains Court Order Suspending New Medicaid Co-Payments That Rhode Island Would Have Applied to Thousands Without Public Debate
Legal Services E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Nearly 14,000 low-income elderly and disabled Rhode Island residents will benefit from a Superior Court judges ruling on October 3, 2006 prohibiting the state Medicaid program from charging co-payments on prescription drugs for elderly and disabled fee-for-service Medicaid recipients. Although the Rhode Island General Assembly approved the co-payments as part of the state budget over the summer, LSC-funded Rhode Island Legal Services (RILS) filed a lawsuit on behalf of a home-bound disabled woman claiming that the General Assembly would need to change the laws governing Medicaid in order to collect co-payments. Since legislating the changes will allow for public debate about the issue, Gretchen Bath, an attorney with RILS working on the case, sees the ruling as victory. She says, People can come out and comment about the impact of making people pay co-pays for drugs their doctors prescribe. The Department of Human Services is discussing whether or not to appeal the decision.