Markva v. Haveman

OPINION

DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judge.

This appeal arises from a class-action challenge to that portion of the Michigan Medicaid plan’s methodology for calculating eligibility and benefits for relatives caring for dependent children that treats non-parents differently from parents. Under Michigan’s plan, “medically needy” caretakers of dependent children must incur a specific amount of monthly out-of-pocket expenses for medical care before they are eligible to receive Medicaid benefits: the higher an applicant’s “countable” household income, the more money the applicant must “spend down” before…