Georgia Online Justice Community

Children with disabilities need legal representation--  Katie Beckett MEDICAID cases to move forward in short order

The Georgia Department of Community Health ("DCH", Georgia's Medicaid agency) has sent hundreds of disabled children's Medicaid appeals to the Office of Administrative Hearings for administrative hearings.

Families of children with profound disabilities have been waiting on determinations whether the state Medicaid program will help them with the cost of intensive medical assistance for their disabled children.

Katie Beckett is a category of Medicaid that covers severely disabled and fragile children whose families are above Medicaid income guidelines, but whose children would otherwise need institutional care. Two years ago DCH changed the Katie Beckett policies with the result that many of the children were removed from the Katie Beckett program. Some of these administrative appeals have been pending since their initial appeals two years ago. Many of these families are above legal aid income guidelines and are ineligible for free legal representation.

Georgia Legal Services Program (GLSP) and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society (ALAS) filed a lawsuit on behalf of Medicaid clients asking that DCH comply with federal regulations. Under federal regulations, DCH must make a final administrative determination within 90 days of an appeal. DCH has agreed to send pending administrative appeals to the Office of State Administrative Hearings for hearing.

DCH has also filed Motions for Summary Determination in many of these cases. Katie Beckett households must respond to a motion for summary determination within 20 days under OSAH rules. These households should contact an attorney for legal advice and representation and meet the response deadline.

In response to the heightened need for information and assistance for Katie Beckett families, GLSP, ALAS, and the Georgia Advocacy Office presented a training for Katie Beckett families on Medicaid appeal basics and the Katie Beckett program on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at the State Bar of Georgia Conference Center.  A webcast video of the parent and advocate training and the accompanying training materials on Katie Beckett criteria and OSAH procedures are  HERE.

Volunteer lawyers wishing to receive referrals of Katie Beckett cases and training materials should contact Mike Monahan, State Bar of Georgia Pro Bono Project Director at probono@gabar.org.

Katie Beckett households may contact the Georgia Legal Services Program, www.glsp.org , or the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, www.atlantalegalaid.or, for information, assistance or referral.  Additional materials for the public may be found here: www.legalaid-ga.org .