The Weekly Washington Wire on Health Care Policy reports that a last-minute appeal by several advocacy groups has temporarily restored Medicaid coverage to 48,000 residents of Mississippi.

The report says "A new law, initiated and signed by Governor Haley Barbour and approved by state lawmakers, terminated coverage from Poverty-Level Aged and Disabled (PLAD) beneficiaries. However, the Mississippi Attorney General and other Democrats argued that the measurement violated federal requirements by the following: giving inadequate notice of termination of services; eliminating coverage based on one's disabilities, thereby violating federal anti-discrimination law; and failing to notify beneficiaries that they could restore coverage if they appealed the change. In addition, the State did not attempt to determine if the beneficiaries could qualify for other Medicaid coverage.

Regardless, many Medicaid advocates still fear that other states will soon follow Mississippi's lead in order to make budgetary ends meet." © Copyright 1999, Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville P.C., Washington, DC, USA.

For more information, an archive of Washington Wire is at http://www.ppsv.com/wire/health/archive.htm