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Medicaid Beneficiaries Allege that Minnesota State Agency Violates
Medicaid Act by Denying Services to Those Unable to Pay Copayment
, No. C9-04-007537 (Minn. Dist. Ct. Ramsey County Filed February
4, 2005)
Dahl v. Goodno
Plaintiffs represented by Ralonda Mason, Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance,
P.O. Box
886, St. Cloud, MN 56302 (telephone number: 320.253.0121); Abigail
Turner, Adan
Mohamed, Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, 430 First Ave. N, Suite
300, Minneapolis,
MN 55401 (telephone number:612.332.1441).
Plaintiff Medicaid beneficiaries with severe mental and physical
disabilities and nonprofit
mental health advocates seek to enjoin defendant Minnesota commissioner
of human
services from implementing copayment policies denying them medical
care. Plaintiffs allege
that in September 2003 the Minnesota Department of Human Services
issued instructions
to medical providers to deny care or services to Medical Assistance
recipients who were
unable to pay their copayments if the providers routinely refused
service to people with
unpaid bills and to providers to tell the recipients in advance
if the providers were stopping
services. The department also sent recipients notice of its new
copayment policies but the
notice did not instruct them on how to claim an inability to pay
a copayment. One plaintiff
who spends most of his Supplemental Security Insurance income on
room and board
takes several medications daily. Two pharmacies have refused or
threatened to stop
refilling his prescriptions due to unpaid copayments. Several plaintiffs
have delayed or
gone without medical treatment due to their inability to pay copayments.
In their amended
class action complaint, plaintiffs allege that defendant’s
policy of allowing medical service
providers to deny services to persons who have unpaid copayment
debt violates the
Medicaid Act (42 U.S.C. 1396o(e)) and state laws and is preempted
by the supremacy
clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Document List
A Plaintiffs' first mended class action complaint
http://www.povertylaw.org/legalresearch/cases/act_abstract_for_print.cfm?id=55837
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