By Timothy Jost
The decision of the full D.C. Circuit to review the panel decision in Halbig v. Burwell en banc was clearly the big Affordable Care Act (ACA) court decision of the first week in September, but a September 2 decision of the federal district court of the Middle District of Tennessee, Gordon v. Wilson, is also worthy of note.
The Medicaid law has long required state Medicaid programs to determine eligibility for Medicaid with “reasonable promptness,” defined by the regulations to mean within 90 days for applicants with disabilities and 45 days for everyone else. Applicants whose applications are not determined reasonably promptly are entitled by the Medicaid law and by the Due Process Clause of the Constitution to a fair hearing.
Medicaid Eligibility and Tennessee
Tennessee, like all states, was required by the ACA to begin calculating Medicaid eligibility for most recipients using modified adjusted gross income, or MAGI as of January 1, 2014. Tennessee attempted to establish a new computer system for doing this, but when it was not ready by January 1, Tennessee asked the federal exchange to determine Medicaid eligibility until it could get its system operational.
