<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div></div><div>Courtesy of KHQ at:</div><div><br></div><a href="http://www.khq.com/story/16688536/some-medicaid-clients-sue-idaho-over-budget-cuts">http://www.khq.com/story/16688536/some-medicaid-clients-sue-idaho-over-budget-cuts</a><div><div> </div><div>------------------------------</div><div id="WNStoryHeader" style="margin-bottom: 13px; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: 12px; "><h3 class="" style="display: block; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; clear: both; font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: bold; ">Some Medicaid clients sue Idaho over budget cuts</h3></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: 12px; "><div id="WNStoryBody" class="" style="font-size: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 15px; display: inline; ">By REBECCA BOONE<br>Associated Press<p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Twelve severely disabled Idaho residents are suing the state after the Department of Health and Welfare refused to disclose why it cut their Medicaid benefits by as much as 40%.</p><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">The plaintiffs are represented by Idaho Legal Aid attorney Ritchie Eppink, who describes his clients as Idaho's most vulnerable residents. All of them need supervision - some require 24-hour care - and all have multiple medical or mental health problems or developmental disabilities. They also all recently had their Medicaid benefits cut under a formula the state says it can't reveal, according to the lawsuit.</p><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare says the formula is a trade secret.</p><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; ">On Friday U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the state to increase the plaintiffs' budgets pending a hearing.</p><p style="margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-size: 17px; ">------------------------------</span></p></div></span><div><div>Seeya later, Moscow.</div><div><br></div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Post Falls, Idaho</div><div><br></div><div>"If not us, who?</div><div>If not now, when?"</div><div><br></div><div>- Unknown</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>