Accessible, community-based, non-discriminatory health care coverage and services for individuals with disabilities are an essential component of any health care system. Yet individuals with disabilities face discrimination in both health care coverage and services.
In the case Pashby v. Cansler, a man from North Carolina had multiple sclerosis, but lived at home with 20 hours of personal care. North Carolina officials, however, cut funding to its Medicaid program and told the man he would need to leave his home and move into institutionalized housing to keep his Medicaid benefits, despite the fact that the institutionalized housing cost more than his 20 hours of personal care.
The National Health Law Program filed a class action lawsuit with Disability Rights of NC and Legal Services of Southern Piedmont, Charlotte, N.C. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina granted our motion for a preliminary injunction that prohibited the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services from implementing the policy, which would have terminated our plaintiff’s eligibility for in-home care under Medicaid.
To read more about our work on Pashby v. Cansler, click here.