Gasper v. Department of Social & Health Services

¶1 The Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) recently implemented the “shared living *46rule,”1 which reduces the number of home care hours it will fund for clients who live with their paid caregivers. DSHS believed this rule was consistent with the policies of not paying for services that benefit the entire household and of not paying for services that other support mechanisms already provide. Venetta Gasper and Tommye Myers, disabled Medicaid recipients living with their paid caregivers, challenged the reduction in their care hours. The trial court invalidated the shared living rule,…