Poverty Law News

Health

All Low-Income Newborns to Receive Equal Access to Medicaid
The Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued a press release stating that all babies born in the United States whose deliveries are covered by Medicaid may remain eligible under certain circumstances for Medicaid for up to a year after birth. The release indicates that CMS will soon issue a revised rule retracting language included in the preamble to a July 2006 interim final rule, which stated an opinion that the U.S. citizen babies of noncitizen women with emergency Medicaid should not be "deemed" eligible for Medicaid, but instead must have a separate application submitted on their behalf.

Missouri Enjoined from Implementing Regulation That
Limits Medicaid Coverage for Durable Medical Equipment
On remand from the Eighth Circuit, the district court has granted plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment in Langford v. Sherman, which challenged a Missouri regulation that eliminated Medicaid coverage for many items of durable medical equipment, including oxygen machines, feeding tubes, canes, walkers, and catheters, to 370,000 Medicaid recipients.

Hospital Billing, Debt Collection, and Patients' Rights
More and more families must go into debt to pay for needed health care services. State lawmakers and advocates have recognized this trend and have started to take action to ensure that low-income, uninsured and underinsured individuals are charged fair prices for their care and protected from aggressive debt collection practices. This issue brief from Families USA provides an overview of some of the progressive reform measures that state policymakers have implemented to aid families struggling with medical debt.

Housing

Higher Cost Home Purchase Lending
Blacks and Latinos in New York City are many times more likely to pay higher interest rates for home purchase loans than white New Yorkers, according to this report from the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project. Paying More for the American Dream: A Multi-State Analysis of Higher Cost Home Purchase Lending, summarizes home mortgage lending data in six metropolitan areas: New York City, Rochester (New York), Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and Charlotte (North Carolina).

Immigration

Legal Permanent Residents
In 2006, a total of 1,266,264 persons became legal permanent residents of the United States. The majority (65 percent) already lived in the United States when they were granted lawful permanent residence. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) were granted permanent residence based on a family relationship with a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident of the United States. This report presents information on the number and characteristics of persons who became legal permanent residents during 2006.

Juveniles

Ninth Circuit Reverses Preliminary Injunction in Katie A.
The Ninth Circuit has reversed the preliminary injunction in Katie A. v. Bonta, which required intensive mental health services for tens of thousands of foster children. However, the appeals court affirmed California’s obligation to provide effective services to these children and upheld the lower court’s finding that these children face the grave harm of unnecessary institutionalization without the injunction. The appeals court remanded the case on the narrow issue of whether the lower court rightly mandated specific types of services.

Social Security/SSI

Conflicting Social Security Decisions
The Government Accountability Office has published "Disability Programs: SSA Has Taken Steps to Address Conflicting Court Decisions, but Needs to Manage Data Better on the Increasing Number of Court Remands."

Poverty Law News
April 6, 2007