Case Name: INTERMOUNTAIN HEALTH CARE, INC., a nonprofit Utah Corporation doing business as Primary Children's Medical Center, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF BLAINE COUNTY, Idaho, Defendant-Respondent
Court: Idaho Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Idaho
Decision Date: 1985-09-23
Citations: 109 Idaho 412
Docket Number: No. 15334
Parties: INTERMOUNTAIN HEALTH CARE, INC., a nonprofit Utah Corporation doing business as Primary Children’s Medical Center, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF BLAINE COUNTY, Idaho, Defendant-Respondent.
Judges: DONALDSON, C.J., and McFADDEN, J., pro tern, concur.
Reporter: Idaho Reports
Volume: 109
Pages: 412–417

Head Matter:
707 P.2d 1051
INTERMOUNTAIN HEALTH CARE, INC., a nonprofit Utah Corporation doing business as Primary Children’s Medical Center, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS OF BLAINE COUNTY, Idaho, Defendant-Respondent.
No. 15334.
Supreme Court of Idaho.
Sept. 23, 1985.
Larry Lee Goins, Idaho Falls, for plaintiff-appellant.
Ray Keith Roark, Hailey, for defendant-respondent.

Opinion:
HUNTLEY, Justice.
By this appeal we are asked to determine whether a United States born child of illegal alien parents may be denied coverage for medical care pursuant to the Idaho medical indigency statutes, I.C. § 31-3501 et seq.
Karen Regalado was born in Blaine County, Idaho. At birth she had numerous medical problems for which she was first treated at Magic Valley Memorial Hospital in Twin Falls, Idaho, then sent to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. While hospitalized at Primary, Karen incurred charges of $135,877.54.
Mario and Celia Regalado, Karen's parents, applied to Blaine County for assistance pursuant to the medical indigency statutes. Mario and Celia were illegal aliens. The Regalados earned approximately $700.00 a month which was supplemented by free housing, utilities and meat supplied by Mario's employer. They had no medical insurance and no property of any value.
The Blaine County Board of Commissioners ("County") denied Regalados' application on the ground that the family was not medically indigent because they could have purchased medical insurance. Intermoiintain Health Care, Inc., ("IHC") then requested, and was granted, an administrative hearing before the County. Again the Regalados' claim was denied, the basis again being that they were not medically indigent, but also that Mr. and Mrs. Regalado were illegal aliens, could not have maintained legal residence in any Idaho county, and therefore were precluded from receiving medical indigency benefits.
IHC appealed to the district court. The district court upheld the County's denial on the grounds that a U.S. born citizen who has illegal alien parents cannot establish a residence in Idaho, and that Karen was not thereby denied equal protection of the laws.
IHC appeals to this Court contending (1) that Idaho's medical indigency statutes were not intended to excuse counties from obligation for a U.S. born resident who happens to be the child of illegal alien parents; and (2) that Karen, a U.S. citizen, being classified as nonresident because of her parents' illegal alienage, has been denied equal protection of the laws. We reverse.
This case does not in fact present to us the issue of whether illegal aliens are entitled to coverage under medical indigency statutes. The only issue before us is whether Karen Regalado is eligible for benefits. I.C. § 31-3502(1) defines "medically indigent" as: ,l[A]ny person who is in need of hospitalization and who, if an adult, together with his or her spouse, or whose parents or guardian if a minor, does not have income and other resources available to him from whatever source which shall be sufficient to enable the person to pay for necessary medical services." (Emphasis supplied.)
IHC argues that the words "any person" mean "every person," because those words are in no way qualified. Because Karen Regalado is a "person," she is thereby potentially medically indigent for the purposes of these statutes.
In response the County asserts that the "any person" language in I.C. § 31-3502(1) must be qualified by the language of I.C. § 31-3506.
I.C. § 31-3506 provides:
31-3506. Determination of obligated county. — Payment for hospitalization of a medically indigent individual shall be provided by the county in which such individual maintained a residence immediately preceding hospitalization or institutionalization. If such individual has not resided in any county of Idaho for a period of six (6) months within the five (5) years preceding hospitalization, then the county where the individual maintains a residence immediately preceding hospitalization shall be the obligated county. A husband's place of residence shall be deemed the place of residence of his wife and children, unless the husband's residence is out of state, in which case the place of residence of the wife in Idaho shall control. If a man maintains a family residence in one (1) county and maintains another residence in a different county for purposes of employment, the county where the family residence is maintained shall be deemed the man's place of residence.
The County suggests that the legislature intended to limit eligibility to persons who have maintained a "residence" in a county of Idaho at the time of hospitalization. Further, it argues, the place of residence of a child is irrelevant because the statute provides that a husband's place of residence is deemed to be the place of residence of his wife and children. The County contends that a person with no legal right to be in the state, such as an illegal alien, could not possibly maintain "residence." Because Mario Regalado is an illegal alien and could not maintain residence in Idaho, and because Karen's residence is deemed to be the same as her father's, the County contends that Karen cannot be a resident for purposes of eligibility under the medical indigency statutes.
"Residence" is defined as "personal presence at some place of abode . and is made up of fact and intention, the fact of abode and intention of remaining____" Black's Law Dictionary 1176 (rev. 5th ed. 1979). It is "the place where one actually lives or has his home; a person's dwelling place or place of habitation; an abode; the house where one's home is; a dwelling house." Perez v. Health and Social Services, 91 N.M. 334, 573 P.2d 689, 692 (1977).
The medical indigency statutes do not define the words "residence," or "resident," though this Court held in Cartwright v. Gem County, 108 Idaho 160, 697 P.2d 1174 (1985) that as used in I.C: § 31-3404, governing application for non-emergency aid to medical indigents, residency "requires physical presence coupled with an intent to remain, or an absence of intent to move elsewhere." 108 Idaho at 161, 697 P.2d at 1175. It has been uniformly held, however, that words denote their ordinary meaning unless a different intent is clearly indicated. Specifically, the word "resident" or the word "residence" as used in a statute pertaining to liability for payment for medical assistance should be given its ordinary and common meaning. Perez, 573 P.2d at 691. There is no indication in our statutes that the legislature meant to do otherwise. Further, the words "residence" and "resident" as used in statutes do not have a uniform meaning. "They are to be construed in the light of the context, with consideration of the purpose of the statutory enactment." (Emphasis omitted.) Catalanotto v. Palazzolo, 259 N.Y.S.2d 473, 476, 46 Misc.2d 381 (N.Y.1965). Therefore, the meaning of "resident" in statutes dealing with other matters, such as fishing licenses and college tuition, are not relevant here absent specific evidence of a legislative intent to give them similar meaning.
Karen Regalado was born in Blaine County, Idaho. She is therefore a United States citizen. She is clearly a "person." I.C. § 31-3502(1) provides that where a person in need of hospitalization is a child, the income and resources of that child's parents or guardian will be considered in the determination of that person's indigency. The statute does not state or imply that the parents or guardians stand in the place of the child, or that the child, whether or not he or she has resources, is considered not to exist for the purpose of determining medical indigency.
Karen resides with her parents in a dwelling in Blaine County. Karen is therefore clearly a resident of Blaine County. Nothing in the record indicates otherwise. The County's argument that the last two sentences of I.C. § 31-3506 require that a child's residence be deemed the residence of the child's father and that therefore the child cannot be a resident of Idaho because her illegal alien father by definition cannot be a resident is without merit. The last two sentences of that statute apply only to those circumstances where a husband and wife do not reside together. Since Mario, Celia and Karen Regalado reside together in Blaine County the two sentences are inapplicable.
We therefore hold that in her own right, as a resident of Blaine County, Idaho, Karen Regalado is eligible to receive medically indigent benefits if she, together with her parents, are found to be without income or resources sufficient to pay for necessary medical services.
Reversed and remanded for entry of judgment consistent with this opinion.
Costs to appellant. No attorney fees on appeal.
DONALDSON, C.J., and McFADDEN, J., pro tern, concur.
BAKES, J., concurs in the result.
SHEPARD, J., dissents without opinion.