Updates
About Barrows v. Becerra
Martha Leyanna of Delaware, described in the court’s decision, spent more than three days in the hospital, receiving identical care to that received by patients classified as inpatients, but because her care had been designated as “outpatient” observation services, Ms. Leyanna, who has since passed away, spent her entire savings of $10,000 for nursing home care.
Such classifications forced patients who couldn’t afford to pay for nursing home care to forgo required health care altogether because Medicare did not cover it. Prior to this decision, beneficiaries whose status was changed from inpatient to observation had no opportunity to appeal to Medicare. The trial court had found that this lack of appeals procedures violated the Due Process Clause of the constitution. The class is represented by the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Justice in Aging, and pro bono firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati.
The class is estimated to contain hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries with claims dating as far back as 2009.