Medicaid Does Not Have To Fund In-Home Services, Judge Rules
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
December 27, 2002

LANSING, MICHIGAN--A judge has ruled that Medicaid does not have to pay for medical services for people living in their own homes.

Ingham County Circuit Judge Peter Houk on Friday upheld a ruling that means people with certain disabilities and medical conditions can get Medicaid funding in a nursing home or other institution, but not necessarily in their own homes. The decision also means that people do not have due process available to them if their funding is denied.

Michigan is considering new guidelines that could allow Medicaid funds to be used for in-home services on a case-by-case basis. Since Medicaid does not require states to fund in-home services, people cannot use the Medicaid Fair Hearing process to appeal any refusals.

The Detroit Free Press reported that attorney Patricia Kefalas Dudek appealed an earlier ruling made by an administrative law judge last May. Dudek is seeking more state funding for her client, John Sullivan, who has not spoken or moved on his own since he was struck by lightning in 1985.

Dudek said she is considering other legal options for additional funding.

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Reproduced here under special arrangement with Inclusion Daily Express disability rights news service.
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