September 11, 2007

Duffy v. Meconi

The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit because they had moved to Delaware and wanted to move their 33-year old daughter, who has multiple disabilities, from North Carolina to a Delaware intermediate care facility for mental retardation (ICF/MR). They were unable to provide the level of care and supervision she required for any significant length of time, such as that required to travel and establish residency. The woman's only income was Supplemental Security Income and her care at the ICF in North Carolina was covered by Medicaid. The judge noted that due to the woman's degree of disability she was unable to form intent to establish residence before reaching the age of 21, so legally her residence was the state her parents lived in when they placed her at the ICF. Because the Delaware Division of Developmental Disabilities Services (DDDS) would not approve her application for Medicaid before she became a state resident, no Delaware ICF would accept her until she had a way to pay for services, thus she could not move.

The judge ruled that the state's residency requirement violated the plaintiff's constitutional right to travel. The judge instructed DDDS to develop a conditional Medicaid services application that allows individuals in similar circumstances to be pre-approved for coverage contingent upon arrival in state.