EDITORIAL: Waiting-period proposal may not pass legal muster

May 18—A Senate panel advanced a proposal last Friday that will put a five-year waiting period on new Oklahoma residents to apply for Medicaid waiver services, including children with intellectual and development disabilities.

This proposal is alarming in that it came up out of the blue, and there has been little to no scrutiny regarding its impacts. The measure appears to have been proposed with worthy intentions; however, it could be seen as discriminatory against people with intellectual disabilities and may violate state and federal law.

Senate Appropriations Chair Roger Thompson proposed the measure because there is a 13-year waiting list for these programs, or roughly 6,000 applicants. He said the waiting period for new residents is needed while the Department of Human Services reviews this backlog of previous applicants. It would also prevent people from crossing state lines just for these services.

While we agree something needs to be done to address the backlog, this isn't the way to do it. The Oklahoma Disability Law Center believes the duration of residency requirements is not legally allowable. They say it also violates reasonable promptness requirements that are not waived/waivable under current code.

It's fine to propose a reasonable waiting period, but it must be consistent with Oklahoma waiting periods on other programs.

The Legislature should scrap this measure and work more closely with the Oklahoma Disability Law Center and other advocates on ways to address the backlog but not be discriminatory in nature as this measure seems to be.

___

(c)2021 the Enid News & Eagle (Enid, Okla.)

Visit the Enid News & Eagle (Enid, Okla.) at www.enidnews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.