Colorado court filing disputes accusation that state unlawfully detains the disabled in nursing homes
The state of Colorado late last week pushed back against the federal government, disputing the allegations by the U.S. Department of Justice that the state discriminates against disabled people by forcing them to languish in nursing homes rather than receiving available care at home.
the Civil Rights Division filed a sweeping lawsuit against the state, alleging that Colorado violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to adequately help eligible disabled people transition out of nursing homes.
In that lawsuit, the federal government accused Colorado of inefficiency and repeated delays in coordinating the available Medicaid-funded services so disabled people can leave restrictive settings.
But on Friday, the Colorado attorney general’s office filed a 31-page rebuttal, not only accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of being overly vague and lacking specific examples, but also disputing the core of the federal government’s case.
The state further said that the federal allegations fail to spell out specific remedies and that, in fact, a large-scale and expensive overhaul of current transition services for disabled people could fundamentally alter Colorado’s community-based Medicaid program and put other recipients at risk.
Colorado officials also disputed the federal government assertion that nursing home care paid for by the state was on average nearly three times more expensive than community-based care. The state said in its response there are times when nursing home care is less expensive, depending on the needs of the client.
It did acknowledge, however, “some services can be provided to some individuals in their homes, and whether this is true is highly dependent on the type of service and the needs and preferences of each individual person.”
The back-and-forth legal wrangling is the latest in an ongoing fight that dates back to 2016.
It was then that Disability Law Colorado forwarded multiple complaints to the Department of Justice accusing Colorado of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act., said Meghan Baker, a lawyer and facilities team leader for the Denver-based protection and advocacy group.
The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. In 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court further defined that protection in a ruling that said states were required to accommodate, when possible, the transition of people with intellectual disabilities out of institutional settings and provide community-based care if they wanted it.