Normand v. Director of the Office of Medicaid

Three consolidated appeals question the method used by the Commonwealth’s office of medicaid to value annuities purchased by applicants for benefits provided by Mass-Health, the name given to Medicaid assistance in Massachusetts. In all three cases, MassHealth valued the annuities at less than they cost. As a consequence of that valuation, the appellants, two of whom had purchased the annuities and one of whom was the spouse of a purchaser, were temporarily disqualified from receiv*635ing MassHealth benefits for reasons that will be described as we proceed.

In all three cases, the plaintiffs took…