Lawsuit Says Michigan Officials Prevented Medicaid Beneficiaries from Receiving Care at Home, Violated ADA

Six Medicaid beneficiaries and five advocacy organizations on March 19 filed a lawsuit against Michigan alleging that the state has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling by forcing Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities to receive care in nursing facilities rather than at home, the Detroit Free Press reports. The lawsuit focuses on the MiChoice program, which was authorized by a federal Medicaid waiver in 1998 and intended to move Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities out of nursing homes and into community-based care settings and to keep other beneficiaries with disabilities out of nursing homes. But the state Department of Community Health froze MiChoice enrollment in October -- 12,000 beneficiaries were enrolled at the time -- to address a $23 million deficit in the program's budget for last year (Edgar, Detroit Free Press, 3/20). State lawmakers have instructed the Department of Community Health to hold spending this year to $126 million. Geralyn Lasher, a department spokesperson, said that the state supports the program, but added, "The bottom line is, we can't spend money we don't have" (Durbin, AP/Detroit News, 3/21). The Free Press reports that the state spends $42 per day to care for a disabled Medicaid beneficiary at home compared with $102 per beneficiary per day for nursing home care. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Lansing, aims to restore MiChoice to its original enrollment capacity of 15,000 beneficiaries. Mark Cody, the attorney for the plaintiffs, charged that the state is "essentially discriminating" against Medicaid beneficiaries with disabilities by forcing them into nursing homes. State Rep. Marc Shulman (R) said lawmakers may propose legislation in April that would restore MiChoice enrollment to 15,000 (Edgar, Detroit Free Press, 3/20).