Lawyers Succeed in Getting Medicaid Funding Extension
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
- Organization: Fulton County Daily Report
- Source: Georgia > GLSP Staff Area
A suit filed by elders' advocates to force the state to extend the deadline for nursing home residents facing the loss of their Medicaid funding has had the desired effect.
Nursing home residents with incomes over the $1,692 Medicaid eligibility cap had until the end of September to establish a Miller Trust, which would preserve the Medicaid funding that pays part of their nursing home bills. However, lawyers at Georgia Legal Services and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society said they could not find the necessary guardians and trustees by the deadline for some patients who are mentally incapacitated.
Along with Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, they sued the state's Medicaid overseer, the Georgia Department of Community Health, to extend the deadline until they can secure trusts for these patients.
The department has agreed to continue making Medicaid payments for an additional 90 days to all affected patients who file an appeal, said Vicky O. Kimbrell, who filed the suit for Georgia Legal Services.
-- Fulton County Daily Report, Thursday, October 7, 2004, page 3
Nursing home residents with incomes over the $1,692 Medicaid eligibility cap had until the end of September to establish a Miller Trust, which would preserve the Medicaid funding that pays part of their nursing home bills. However, lawyers at Georgia Legal Services and the Atlanta Legal Aid Society said they could not find the necessary guardians and trustees by the deadline for some patients who are mentally incapacitated.
Along with Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, they sued the state's Medicaid overseer, the Georgia Department of Community Health, to extend the deadline until they can secure trusts for these patients.
The department has agreed to continue making Medicaid payments for an additional 90 days to all affected patients who file an appeal, said Vicky O. Kimbrell, who filed the suit for Georgia Legal Services.
-- Fulton County Daily Report, Thursday, October 7, 2004, page 3
