The Court of Appeal granted our request to certify for publication its July 12th opinion in Brown v. Crandall.  In that case the Court of Appeal held that Humboldt County residents must be given a reasonable opportunity to apply for indigent health care benefits and to sue the County if that opportunity is denied.  The favorable opinion regarding publication means that advocates can cite Brown for, among other things, a county’s duty to provide a fair procedure applicants for indigent health care coverage; a petitioner’s citizen standing to challenge any illegal indigent health care practice, even those that don’t directly affect the petitioner; and the proposition that a county’s duty to relieve and support its indigent residents is not fulfilled by giving the resident a discount on her hospital bill.

Chelsey Brown was between jobs and without health insurance when she suffered a ‘pre-stroke migraine event” and was hospitalized.  When the County refused to help her, she applied for coverage under the CMSP program – a state program for small counties – but was refused because she was slightly over-income.  She asked to be considered under the County’s residual statutory obligation to “relieve and support” its indigent residents, but was informed that the County had no such program.

After she sued, the County announced the existence of a residual program, but refused to evaluate Ms. Brown for coverage.  Instead, the County moved to dismiss Ms. Brown’s complaint, declaring in its motion that Ms. Brown was ineligible and lacked standing to sue.  The trial court agreed, but the Court of Appeal reversed, noting “the unfairness of the result that the County advocates and the trial court reached below. . . . Brown is entitled to a full and fair determination” of her eligibility for benefits.  

The July 12th Brown decision followed on the heels of a March 24 opinion in McGrath v. Crandall, in which a different Court of Appeal panel ruled against the County on similar grounds.  In both cases, the petitioner was represented by Western Center on Law and Poverty and Legal Services of Northern California.