Ohio attorney general's office misses Medicaid-suit deadline

COLUMBUS (AP) -- Ohio may be excluded from a lawsuit defending the right for Medicaid recipients to choose their own doctors because the incoming attorney general's legal team missed an inauguration day deadline in the case.
First Assistant Attorney General Tom Winters said the missed deadline doesn't necessarily mean the state is out of the lawsuit, but could reduce the state's standing if the case is accepted by the Ohio Supreme Court.
The state had hoped to join a challenge to an appeals court ruling that said Medicaid service providers can be required to sign contracts with county Boards of Mental Retardation and Development Disabilities in order to serve Medicaid clients in that county.
A trial judge found the arrangement violated federal Medicaid law, which calls for a single state agency to administer the Medicaid program and assure the rights of Medicaid patients to freely choose who treats them is protected.
Winters said that on Jan. 8, the day Attorney General Marc Dann was attending inaugural festivities in Warren and Youngstown, a young lawyer in the office tried but failed to get the state's filing to the high court by the 5 p.m. deadline.
"We didn't get there in time. There was a snafu," Winters said.
The state still can file briefs in response to the other side's arguments even if it is not a party to the case.