A U.S. district court denies a preliminary injunction to a Medicaid applicant who is suing New Jersey to prevent the state from denying her benefits based on her dead husband's assets. Flade v. Connolly (U.S. Dist. Ct, D. N.J., No. 16-4407, Sept. 23, 2016).
Shortly after nursing home resident Eileen Flade applied for Medicaid, her husband passed away, leaving $70,000 in assets. In his will, he left Ms. Flade the smallest share allowed under state law, but Ms. Flade did not claim her one-third elective share. The state denied Ms. Flade's application because it found that all of Mr. Flade's assets were available to Ms. Flade.
Ms. Flade sued the state in federal court under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the state from treating the assets of her late husband's estate as a resource that she had access to. The state opposed the motion, arguing that even if Ms. Flade doesn't have access to her husband's assets, she made transfers that would subject her to a penalty period.
The United States District Court, District of New Jersey, denies the motion for a preliminary injunction. The court rules that because Ms. Flade has less than $2,000 and does not currently have access to her husband's assets, she has a likelihood of succeeding on the merits of her claim, but even if Ms. Flade won on the merits, she would likely face a penalty period, so denying the injunction will not cause her irreparable harm. The court also rules that the state would be harmed by an injunction and that an injunction is not in the public interest.
For the full text of this decision, go to: https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/new-jersey/njdce/3:2016cv04407/335576/9/0.pdf?ts=1474716195
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