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LINCOLN -- Nebraska wrongfully cut off Medicaid benefits to more than 400 low-income parents, a judge has ruled.
Lancaster County District Judge Karen Flowers ruled that the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services violated state law in ending Medicaid coverage for parents who did not fully comply with Nebraska's welfare-to-work requirements.
The Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest had filed the class action lawsuit in May 2008 on behalf of Jennifer Davio and several hundred other parents who lost both Medicaid and Aid to Dependent Children benefits. Flower issued her decision on Tuesday.
The parents were sanctioned under the state's welfare-to-work program, Employment First, which aims to help parents get jobs through training, education and preparation for employment.
The lawsuit argues that those recipients were sanctioned by having ADC cash assistance taken away from their families. The suit argues they should not be penalized by losing Medicaid as well.
Under the ruling, families facing an Employment First sanction will still lose their entire cash assistance grant and have their Food Stamps reduced.
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