Skubel v. Fuoroli, 113 F. 3d 330 - Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit 1997

Defendants-appellants Joyce Thomas and Julie Pollard, in their respective official capacities as Commissioner and Director of Medical Administrative Operations of the Connecticut Department of Social Services ( DSS ), appeal from a judgment entered in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Burns, J.) granting summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs-appellees Jacinta Skubel and Travis Hardy.[1] The district court determined that the United States Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS ) regulation limiting Medicaid coverage to home health care services provided at the recipient\u27s place of residence was an unreasonable interpretation of the home health care services provision of the Medicaid statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq., and therefore arbitrary and capricious. Accordingly, the district court permanently enjoined DSS and officials of HHS from denying Medicaid funding to members of plaintiffs\u27 class for medically necessary home health nursing services outside their residences. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the district court as modified