Goldberg Kohn Helps Win Partial Victory in Pro Bono Medicaid Case

July 10, 2006

Chicago - A hearing was held this morning on a class action lawsuit filed on June 28th in Federal District Court in Chicago.  The suit challenges a new law requiring 50 million Medicaid beneficiaries to document their U.S. citizenship with passports, birth certificates, and other documentation.  In what some are calling an attempt to pre-empt a ruling in today’s scheduled hearing, the Bush administration issued regulations yesterday that will exempt some 8 million citizens from the harm caused by the law. 

These regulations made an important clarification in the new law: Seniors and people with disabilities who are on Medicare or on SSI (Supplemental Security Income) and who are also on Medicaid are not subject to the new requirement (because they’ve already had to show proof of citizenship for Medicare or SSI).

Although it’s only a partial victory, this decision will help some 8 million of the most vulnerable people in Medicaid keep their health coverage. The lawsuit was filed by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, the National Health Law Program, Health & Disability Advocates, the National Senior Citizens Law Center, and Goldberg Kohn Bell Black Rosenbloom & Moritz, Ltd.