Ohio Residents Suffering From Illness During Illegally Long Waits for Medicaid Eligibility Decisions File Suit Against State and County
Legal Services E-lert
Bibliographic Info:
Author: Ann Fisher
Source: The Columbus Dispatch (OH)
Date: December 12, 2008
The Columbus Dispatch reports: "[For Julie Seymour, a Columbus woman,] a narrowing spine, a herniated disc and an inherited neurological disorder cause the pain that has forced Seymour from jobs -- and health insurance -- since 2006. Early last year, she applied for Medicaid coverage via Franklin County, which is supposed to compile the documentation for the state, which decides eligibility. Seymour still waits. In the meantime, she has joined with three other plaintiffs in a lawsuit the [LSC-funded] Legal Aid Society of Columbus filed yesterday in federal court against the state and Franklin County accusing them of not processing such claims in a timely manner -- 90 days, as defined by the federal government. Legal Aid can barely afford a lawsuit, but the lawyers there also can't afford the precious resources they spend fighting the state and county over so many eligibility cases that have lingered far beyond the 90-day limit. Dispatch reporters Catherine Candisky, Jonathan Riskind and Alan Johnson reported on the Medicaid backlog last summer, detailing how some poor people who seek Medicaid coverage can wait years . . . . The need is expected to grow, as the debris from the economic downturn settles . . . . Kathleen McGarvey, a lawyer with Legal Aid, said her office has juggled at least 35 cases in the past 12 months alone in which people who applied for Medicaid disability coverage have waited longer -- way longer -- than 90 days, or even the statewide average wait of 104 days."