State settles lawsuit over Medicaid redetermination

About 154,000 Ohio residents will have their Medicaid health benefits restored and their eligibility for the program rechecked as part of a settlement reached in a lawsuit against the state, the state’s Department of Medicaid said this week (Source: “Ohio settles lawsuit involving dropped Medicaid recipients,” Associated Press via Toledo Blade, May 12, 2015)

The agreement comes in a case involving how Ohio officials “re-determine” the eligibility of recipients in the federal-state health program for the poor and disabled.

In March, the Legal Aid Society of Columbus sued the state’s Medicaid director on behalf of several people and two nonprofits in central Ohio: the Community Refugee and Immigration Services and Community Development for All People. They claimed that some individuals’ Medicaid benefits were terminated or put at risk after Ohio failed to follow federal law and Medicaid regulations during the review process.

Last month HPIO released a brief titled “Medicaid Redetermination and Renewal in Ohio.” The brief provides information about the Medicaid redetermination and renewal process in Ohio.