Harriman v. Commissioner, Department of Human Services

McKUSICK, Chief Justice.

To respond to a question of state law certified to us by the United States District Court for the District of Maine (Hornby, J), we here consider whether the Maine Department of Human Services (DHS) is correctly administering the Maine Medicaid statute, 22 M.R.S.A. §§ 3172-3191 (1980 & Pamph.1990). Specifically, we are asked whether DHS is correct in construing the statute not to mandate Medicaid benefits for a claimant whose assets exceed the eligibility limit for Medicaid even though the claimant has incurred medical expenses that would reduce those assets below that…