Connecticut judge orders Medicaid benefits lost under Trump rule reinstated

A Connecticut federal judge has ordered the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reinstate Medicaid coverage to people who lost it as a result of a rule instituted by the departing Trump administration. The judge had previously issued an injunction against the rule but clarified the injunction at the request of the government.

"To 'reinstate' according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means to "place again (as in possession or in a former position)" and to "restore a previous effective state," wrote U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea of the U.S. District Court of Connecticut in his order to CMS.

Shea wrote that the secretary of CMS must follow the rules that were previously in place before the Trump rule change. Those rules prohibited people from being removed from state Medicaid rolls during the COVID-19 public health emergency as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

"The judge clarified, in no uncertain terms, that Health and Human Services must stop ignoring the previous order, and take actions to immediately reinstate Medicaid coverage throughout the country both quickly and automatically (wherever possible), even as states begin their 'Medicaid unwinding' processes," wrote Bernard Kavaler spokesperson for Disability Rights Connecticut in a news release. "Health and Human Services was refusing to provide state agencies the guidance about the scope of the injunction, for which HHS admitted states were clamoring."

The entire Connecticut congressional delegation had previously signed a letter urging CMS to tell states that they had to reinstate Medicaid coverage to people who had lost it under the Trump rule and that they receive retroactive coverage.

"We urge CMS to immediately issue affirmative guidance to all the states that clarifies their responsibility to provide benefits to all members of the affected class of beneficiaries," wrote U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and U.S. Reps. John Larson, Joe Courtney, Rosa DeLauro, Jim Himes and Jahana Hayes. They urged that such benefit reinstatements occur "automatically wherever possible."

The ruling is part of a class-action lawsuit on behalf of disabled people nationwide who lost their benefits. The Trump rule, called the "interim final rule," stripped hundreds of thousands of people of their Medicaid eligibility in the waning hours of the administration. It was issued four days after the election when votes were still being counted.

The public health emergency is ongoing, but the Biden administration is in the process of winding it down by May 11.

Two women from Connecticut who had suddenly lost their benefits are leading the lawsuit. One of them is Brenda Moore, a 57-year-old New Haven grandmother. Moore has severe physical disabilities that limit her mobility. She is one of approximately 6,600 people statewide who lost Medicaid due to the Trump rule.