NYLAG Secures Relief from New York State for Medicaid Home Care Recipients It Failed to Protect from Service Cuts
Many New Yorkers with low incomes who suffer from serious illnesses or disabilities depend on home health services covered by Medicaid to live safely in their homes. This case challenges New York’s failure to protect these individuals when the private companies that provide their care, called Managed Long Term Care Plans (“MLTCPs”), shut down.
One of these private companies closed down in New York’s Suffolk, Nassau, and Westchester Counties in 2017. The New York State Department of Health (“DOH”), which is responsible for protecting Medicaid recipients, allowed this company to send out a confusing letter to the recipients about their rights, which caused many of them to lose care that they needed. This put their safety at risk and also violated their rights to due process under the United States Constitution.
If you live in Nassau, Suffolk, or Westchester Counties and received Medicaid home health services from GuildNet before it closed, contact us:
Number: 212-613-5032
Email: jceron@nylag.org
More Information:
Name: Cassidy v. Zucker (formerly Guadagna v. Zucker)
Dkt. #: 17 Civ. 3397 (EDNY 2017)
Judge: Hon. Joan M. Azrack
Status: Court granted class certification; Magistrate Judge Hon. A. Kathleen Tomlinson issued a Report and Recommendation recommending that the District Court grant summary judgment to the Plaintiffs; Judge Joan M. Azrack granted summary judgment to the Plaintiffs because the Department of Health violated their rights under the Medicaid Act and the due process clause of the United States Constitution. The Parties are negotiating declaratory and injunctive relief.
Claims:
Violations of the Medicaid Act, the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Highlights:
- Plaintiffs filed the Amended Complaint in November 2017
- Court granted class certification in August 2019
- NYLAG filed an Intervenor Complaint on behalf of Class Member Robin Cassidy in July 2020, following the death of Class Representative Salvatore Guadagna
- Magistrate Judge recommended granting summary judgment in Plaintiffs’ favor (March 2021) and granting Cassidy’s motion to intervene (July 2021)
- Court granted Cassidy’s motion to intervene as Class Representative and granted summary judgment in Plaintiffs’ favor in September 2021
