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Texas Loses Appeal of Child Medicaid Suit

Posted on: Friday, 21 July 2006, 15:00 CDT

A U.S. appeals court has handed a victory to a group of Texas mothers who sued their state in the 1990s to get Medicaid coverage for more children.

The 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals refused to dismiss claims saying Texas state officials have systematically denied Medicaid coverage to hundreds of thousands of Texas children for years, reports the Austin American-Statesman.

The decision comes after Texas officials sought to overturn a lower-court ruling last year that the state was in violation of a 1996 consent agreement designed to improve healthcare access for Medicaid-eligible children and young adults, the report said.

Attorney Susan Zinn, representing the six mothers, said the plaintiffs will now seek additional relief from the lower court.

For years now, Texas Medicaid officials have not complied with the federal Medicaid law or the consent decree that they agreed to in the first place, she said.

She said more than 2.7 million Texas children are qualified to receive Medicaid benefits, but that hundreds of thousands are not getting them.

A state Health and Human Services Commission spokesman would only say agency officials are reviewing the decision.

Source: United Press International

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