Connecticut Department of Income Maintenance v. Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al. (471 U.S. 524)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 20, 1985 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 471 U.S. 524 · 105 S. Ct. 2210
- Decided
- May 20, 1985
- Term
- October Term 1984
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. Services performed for patients between the ages of 21 and 65 in an “institution for mental diseases” (IMD) are not covered by the Medicaid Act. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has adopted a definition of that term that is broad enough to encompass an “intermediate care facility” (ICF). The Middletown Haven Rest Home is an ICF that provides care for persons with mental illness as well as other diseases. The narrow question presented by this case is whether Middletown Haven is an IMD within the meaning of the Act. The broader question is whether the Secretary’s definition of an IMD, which permits an ICF to be classified as an IMD, is consistent with the intent of Congress. During the period between January 1977 and September 1979, the State of Connecticut paid Middletown Haven for the services it provided to Medicaid eligible patients, including those between the ages of 21 and 65 who had been transferred to Middletown Haven from state mental hospitals. Under the Medicaid program, the State received federal reimbursement of $1,634,655 for those payments. After receiving information that Connecticut was discharging large numbers of mental patients from state mental institutions into ICFs and skilled nursing facilities, and after numerous meetings with state officials, the Department of Health and Human Services…
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