In November, 2020, the Trump Administration issued an interim final rule, without considering the thousands of comments submitted in opposition, that caused hundreds of thousands of older adults, people with disabilities, and others to lose access to critical Medicaid benefits. The illegal rule required states to trim their Medicaid rolls as a condition of continuing to receive enhanced federal funding provided by Congress for the purpose of ensuring people could retain health care coverage during the ongoing public health emergency. The lawsuit asks the Biden Administration to revoke this harmful and illegal rule on behalf of hundreds of thousands of plaintiffs, many of whom are older adults at risk of institutionalization.
In February 2023, the Court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction ordering the Biden Administration to stop enforcing the illegal interim final rule and to reinstate its previous guidance prohibiting states from terminating or reducing Medicaid coverage during the Public Health Emergency. The injunction is effective through the end of March 2023, and means that those affected will get to stay on benefits while their status is redetermined during the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment requirement. The Court also certified a nationwide class. This decision follows the November 2022 preliminary injunction granting relief as to the five named plaintiffs.
One plaintiff, a 63-year-old Connecticut woman, has received full-benefit Medicaid her entire life due to long term, chronic conditions, including a degenerative neurological disease, that now requires her to receive daily assistance in her home with dressing, bathing, using the toilet, transferring from her wheelchair or out of bed, and eating. She lost access to those services as soon as the policy was implemented.
