Court Opinion

ID: 9693469
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 16:43:12.791822+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:19:47.284274
License: Public Domain

Eldridge, J.,

dissenting:

The rationale for the State’s argument in these cases, as set forth in the majority opinion, is that the State "desires to have a judgment only to be in a position to move against any assets of the respondents which are not exempt from execution and which the State might discover, or which the respondents might subsequently acquire.” If this "desire” of the State were authorized by Maryland law, I would agree that the entry of judgment on the State’s reimbursement claim would not violate 42 U.S.C. § 407.
However, as the State and the majority acknowledge, Maryland law does not authorize the State to set a reimbursement rate and obtain a judgment against patients having no income and no assets. The State is not entitled to secure a judgment merely for the purpose of moving in the future against subsequently discovered or subsequently acquired assets. Rather, under Maryland Code (1957, 1980 Repl. Vol.), Art. 43, § 601, and the applicable regulations, an investigation by the State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene into the financial condition of the patient, and a determination that the patient is able to pay, are prerequisites to the patient’s liability.1
*264Since the respondents have no income or assets other than social security benefits, the State law basis for any judgments against the respondents rests entirely upon their receipt of social security payments. "But for” respondents’ entitlement to social security benefits, the State would not be authorized to proceed against them in court. Under these circumstances, I believe that permitting the State to obtain judgments does subject the respondents’ right to social security benefits to "other legal process” within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 407.
In Philpott v. Essex County Welfare Board, 409 U.S. 413, 93 S.Ct. 590, 34 L. Ed. 2d 608 (1973), the Supreme Court stated that 42 U.S.C. § 407 "imposes a broad bar against the use of any legal process to reach all social security benefits.” (409 U.S. at 417, 93 S.Ct. at 592, emphasis supplied). Using the entitlement to social security benefits as the basis for obtaining judgments against social security recipients, violates the statute as interpreted in Philpott..Both the District Court and the Circuit Court for Howard County correctly applied 42 U.S.C. § 407. I would affirm.
Judge Cole has authorized me to state that he concurs with the views expressed herein.

. This point was expressly conceded by the State in its brief, as follows (Petitioner’s Brief, p. 8):
"Under state law, Defendants are liable, not for the actual cost of services rendered them in Clifton T. Perkins, but only for such *264sum, not exceeding the actual cost, as the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene determines they are able to pay, based on that Department’s investigation of the patients’ resources. (Article 43, Section 601, Maryland Annotated Code, and applicable regulations.) A patient’s legal liability for his care and treatment is limited by his ability to pay at the time of his hospitalization. Any subsequent change in his ability to pay does not affect the patient’s liability for past periods of hospitalization. Section 601 (b) 2 explicitly requires that in setting the rate of reimbursement 'public assistance payments shall be taken into consideration as to financial resources.’ ”