Tennesseans who said the state is to blame for delayed TennCare applications scored a victory in federal court on Tuesday, as a federal judge granted class-action status to their lawsuit.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and two other groups filed the suit on behalf of eleven Tennesseans who said the state violated the Affordable Care Act by delaying responses to their applications to the state's Medicaid program. Some of the plaintiffs said 200 days elapsed between filing their applications and the state's reply.
Attorneys representing the state asked federal judge Todd Campbell to dismiss the suit. They argued that the plaintiffs didn't have legal standing, because they gained TennCare coverage since the lawsuit was filed. The lawyers also said the blame for delays lay not with the state, but with the federal health care exchange.
Judge Campbell's ruling rejected those arguments. The state, not the federal government, was responsible for processing TennCare applications in a timely manner, he wrote. Campbell also said the fact that plaintiffs' TennCare coverage was quickly arranged after the lawsuit was filed showed the state was fully capable of processing claims in a faster manner.
Campbell also granted the plaintiffs' request to open the suit to class-action status. That means any TennCare applicant whose request didn't get a response within 45 days could join. The lawsuit's eligibility window begins on October 1, 2013.