Whether a state Medicaid agency must include garnished income in 'income received' when calculating a nursing home resident's liability

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Federal law requires Medicaid recipients to pay from their income received a portion of their monthly nursing home bill, called the resident’s “liability.” Two important questions of federal law arise regarding how to calculate a resident’s liability: 1. Did the Indiana Court of Appeals incorrectly determine a question of federal law by ruling that, when calculating the resident’s liability, a state Medicaid agency must include garnished income in “income received,” thus creating a conflict with the South Dakota Supreme Court? 2. In determining this question of federal law, was it error for the Indiana Court of Appeals to defer to the state Medicaid agency’s interpretation of “income received” in 42 C.F‘R. § 485.725? ii RELATED CASES Respondent, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA), in Case No. MD-48-1044100178/ 4000610561, entered its final agency decision on March 2, 2017, affirming the decision of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) dated January 20, 2017. The ALJ’s decision denied Petitioner Lance Patterson’s appeal challenging FSSA’s administrative action that modified the “liability” amount Patterson must pay the nursing home where he lived. The Henry County, Indiana Circuit Court 2, in Lance Patterson, Plaintiff v. Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Defendant, Case No. 33C021703-PL-019, issued its Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Judgment Entry on Plaintiff’s Request for Judicial Review on March 21, 2018. The trial court reversed the decision of FSSA and remanded to FSSA for further proceedings. The Indiana Court of Appeals, in Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Appellant-Defendant v. Lance Patterson, Appellee-Plaintiff, Case No. 18A-PL925, issued its Opinion on January 17, 2019, reversing the judgment of the trial court. On May 9, 2019, the Indiana Supreme Court, in Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Appellant v. Lance Patterson, Appellee, in Case No. 18A-PL-925, denied Patterson’s petition to transfer the case to the Indiana Supreme Court. The denial of the petition to transfer terminated the appeal in the Indiana courts. Ind. R. App. P. 58(b).