Court Opinion

ID: 9762080
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 02:09:54.450434+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:29.815638
License: Public Domain

Robert L. Brown, Justice, concurring. I agree with the result but would not apply Act 1228 of 1993 retroactively on the basis that it is “remedial.” Most legislative enactments could be construed as remedial in one way or another, and the retroactive application of state law must be employed in the rarest of instances. Rather, the device used by the appellee was a subterfuge and directly contrary to the overall intent of the Medicaid program to provide welfare benefits to the aged who are impoverished. The fact that a precise state regulation did not prevent the appellee’s artifice is not determinative in my opinion. Her trust was clearly at odds with the purpose behind the Medicaid program and that is enough to mandate a reversal.