Arc of Washington State Inc. v. Braddock

No. 03-35605 (9th Cir. Oct. 14, 2005) ; Clearinghouse Number: 54695

Description

Ninth Circuit Does Not Require Washington State to Apply for Increase in Its Medicaid Waiver Program Cap

Abstract

On rehearing, the Ninth Circuit withdrew its previous opinion in Arc of Washington State v. Braddock and replaced it with an opinion concluding that forcing Washington State to apply for an increase in its limit on the number of people who could participate in a Medicaid waiver program providing disabled persons with alternatives to institutionalization constituted a fundamental alteration of the state’s program for the developmentally disabled and was not required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As contemplated by the Medicaid waiver provisions, Washington State limited home- and community-based services to 9,977 individuals. Plaintiff-appellants—the Arc of Washington State and three developmentally disabled individuals—had claimed that restricting the number of participants in the Medicaid waiver program violated Title II of the ADA. Instead, they argued, the state must make the home- and community-based services waiver program available to every developmentally disabled person who qualified for an institutional setting but who preferred such services. The district court disagreed and granted partial summary judgment for defendant-appellee Washington Department of Social and Health Services. In its original opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision and allowed states, notwithstanding the ADA’s accommodation provisions, to use the cap provided in the Medicaid law when they used the Medicaid waiver program for home- and community-based services. Again affirming the district court in its replacement opinion, the Ninth Circuit clarified that it did not hold that the forced expansion of a state’s Medicaid waiver program could never be a reasonable accommodation required by the ADA. However, the Ninth Circuit did hold that, in this case, because Washington State demonstrated that it had a “comprehensive, effectively working plan” and that its commitment to deinstitutionalization was “genuine, comprehensive and reasonable,” the state was not required to apply for an increase in its Medicaid waiver program cap.

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Docket Date
2005-10-14 00:00:00+00:00