A U.S. District Court judge issued an injunction Tuesday to halt deep cuts to Medicaid and restore about $16 million in assistance to Idaho's developmentally delayed adults.
The decision lets an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Idaho lawsuit on behalf of disabled Idahoans proceed as a class-action case.
That opens it up to more people who lost some their Medicaid dollars when the program was slashed in 2011.
Judge B. Lynn Winmill cited cases of severely mentally disabled Idahoans that can no longer afford necessary therapy and other care in his decision.
The injunction applies to everyone who goes through Medicaid's individual budgeting process for adults with developmental disabilities in Idaho.
Those people will return to the highest level of funding they have received since July 1, 2011.
A statement from the ACLU says the constitutional violations the judge found in Idaho's Medicaid program exist in nearly all of Idaho’s Health and Welfare programs. The statement goes on to say there will be more lawsuits.
“There definitely are other issues the Department of Health and Welfare must look at very closely, says the ACLU's Leo Morales. "And potentially the court may find them unconstitutional as well.”