Last week Appleseed won a lawsuit in the Nebraska Supreme Court which restored Medicaid benefits to hundreds of low-income parents unlawfully dropped from the program by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In the suit, Davio v. HHS, 280 Neb 263 (2010), class members challenged HHS’ policy of terminating a person’s Medicaid benefits as the result of a sanction under the Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) program. The ADC program provides monthly cash assistance to very low-income families (a family of three earning about $9,000 per year). The vast majority of people participating in the ADC program must do a work activity for a set number of hours per month, usually an average of 120. If they do not do the activity, they lose the cash assistance. But HHS went one step further and took away the ADC’s recipients Medicaid as well.
On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court found that HHS “unlawfully enlarged upon authorizing statutes and violated the principles of separation of powers,” when it stripped poor families of vital Medicaid coverage by approving a policy that allows HHS to impose a harsher sanction than specified by state law.
This decision is good news for more than 6,000 low-income Nebraska parents that participate in the Employment First Program, which is intended to help families attain economic self sufficiency. Nebraska families that qualify for ADC depend on Medicaid coverage to access needed preventative and medical treatment. Indeed, providing consistent health care coverage allows families to be healthy, retain employment, and become self sufficient. The HHS policy of removing Medicaid only made it more difficult for families to work towards economic independence, contrary to the goals of ADC. In other words, economic independence and access to health care go hand-in-hand. The Legislature recognized this principle in setting its policy and the Davio decision maintains that policy. This means that today, those working hard towards self sufficiency can be assured they will have access to health care, a good thing for many Nebraskans in need.
Ahh, summertime. For me, summertime in Nebraska brings back memories of swimming lessons, playing with kittens, and eating picnics of sandwiches, peaches and popsicles on our front porch. Unfortunately, for too many kids in Nebraska, summertime is a time of hunger, rather than one of carefree days and picnic meals.
Yesterday, the President gave a long-awaited public speech on immigration. The speech reflected what we know first hand here in Nebraska; the need for common-sense immigration reform is urgent.
This week marks the three month anniversary of the passage of the health care reform bill. In just that short time we have already seen positive changes. Parents can keep their children on their family coverage until age 26, seniors have begun receiving checks to help them fill the donut hole that occurs in their Medicare Part D coverage, a new web portal is going to be launched on July 1st to help families and small businesses figure out what coverage might be available to them in Nebraska right now, and a new high risk insurance pool will also be launched on July 1st which will provide coverage to some uninsured Nebraskans.
Nebraska’s budget should reflect Nebraska’s priorities.
Last week Appleseed testified on a major shift in Nebraska’s Medicaid program. The state is moving to a “full-risk” managed care program in ten counties contiguous to Omaha and Lincoln on August 1. For over a year Appleseed has been expressing serious reservations about this change. (
