Darling v. Sullivan

FLOYD R. GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge.

In this case we revisit section 12202 of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (“COBRA”), 42 U.S.C. § 1383c(b) (1988), which we first interpreted in Darling v. Bowen, 878 F.2d 1069 (8th Cir.1989), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 110 S.Ct. 1782, 108 L.Ed.2d 783 (1990) 1. Section 12202 is a remedial statute enacted for the purpose of alleviating the adverse consequences that certain increases in social security benefits increases had for disabled widow(er)s seeking Medicaid. In 1984, when federal legislation to increase the social security…