The Plaintiffs, individuals with developmental disabilities and/or mental illness, challenged Georgia's reduction in coverage in home-based support services. The Plaintiffs were receiving services from Georgia Medicaid's Service Options Using Resources in a Community Environment (SOURCE) program when the state announced that it would change the program to cover only individuals over aged 65 who had physical disabilities. As a result of this change, each plaintiff was given a notice that he or she would be terminated from the program. The Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on September 10, 2010, alleging that the reduction in coverage placed the Plaintiffs at risk of unnecessary institutionalization in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The Plaintiffs also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking the court to order the state to continue providing SOURCE benefits to the Plaintiffs during litigation. The United States filed a brief supporting this motion on October 6, 2010.

On October 7, 2010, the court (Judge Timothy C. Batten) granted a 60-day preliminary injunction ordering the state to allow the Plaintiffs to continue receiving SOURCE benefits. Throughout the next two years, the parties successfully petitioned the court for extensions of the preliminary injunction. Ultimately, the parties entered a settlement agreement on December 17, 2012. The state agreed to provide Plaintiffs with either continuation of the SOURCE program benefits or other Medicaid-funded community-based services that would allow the Plaintiffs to remain in the community.

Beth Kurtz - 02/20/2013


compress summary