Court Opinion

ID: 9548757
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:08:26.784302+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:19:24.096897
License: Public Domain

SHEPARD, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
For the following reasons, I cannot concur in the majority opinion.
The majority has refused to recognize the time limitations of I.C. § 31-3504. The Hospital’s application for medical indigency benefits was filed with Minidoka County approximately 500 days after the Hospital admitted the infant Henderson, approximately 11 months after the time that the Hendersons were found by the commissioners to have been medically indigent, and 62 days after the Hendersons’ bankruptcy filing. I.C. § 31-3504 provides:
An application for or on behalf of a medically indigent person receiving emergency medical services may be made any time within forty-five (45) days following the admission of said person to the hospital furnishing said care. If a person becomes medically indigent subsequent to admission to a hospital or subsequent to receiving treatment by a hospital, an application for the person, or on his be*676half, shall be made within thirty (30) days of the time the person becomes medically indigent. The chargeable county or counties shall be notified as soon as practicable upon the hospital’s obtaining information disclosing that a patient is medically indigent.
I.C. § 31-3504 was addressed by our Court of Appeals in Caldwell Memorial Hospital v. Board of County Commissioners, 107 Idaho 33, 684 P.2d 1010 (Ct.App.1984), stating:
The language of I.C. § 31-3504 is clear. If a person is medically indigent upon admission to the hospital, that person or someone on his behalf must file an application with the board within forty-five days following his admission. If a person becomes medically indigent thereafter, the application must be made within thirty days of his becoming indigent. In addition, the hospital is required to notify the chargeable county when it obtains information disclosing that a patient is indigent. This notice requirement does not, however, extend the time given hospitals for filing an application. It simply directs that notice be given to the county as soon as is practicable. A hospital, of course, can be the applicant. I.C. § 31-3408. In such circumstances, the hospital is bound by the same forty-five and thirty-day time limits.
Clearly, the Hospital’s contention that the party making the application for medical indigency benefits has 30 days from the point that they should have, or reasonably could have discovered the indigency, is without merit. As stated by our Court of Appeals in Caldwell Memorial, the applicant continues to be bound by the same 45 and 30-day time limits.
The Minidoka County Commissioners found that the Hendersons were “medically indigent” as early as January 1982, and hence the filing of the Hospital’s application for benefits goes beyond the statutory time limits and is untimely filed.
I.C. § 31-3502(1) defines medical indigency as follows:
“Medically indigent” means any 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.
Upon a county commissioner’s denial of medical indigency benefits and appeal to the district court, the standard of review is set forth by I.C. § 67-5215(g)(5) which provides in pertinent part:
(g) The court shall not substitute its judgment for that of the agency as to the weight of the evidence on questions of fact. The court may affirm the decision of the agency or remand the case for further proceedings. The court may reverse or modify the decision if substantial rights of the appellant have been prejudiced because the administrative findings, inferences, conclusions, or decisions are:
(5) clearly erroneous in view of the reliable, probative, and substantial evidence on the whole record; or____
In my view, the evidence clearly supports the finding of the county commissioners that the Hendersons were medically indigent as early as January 1982. At the time of the release of the infant from the University of Utah Hospital on August 24,1981, the Hendersons were indebted to the Hospital for more than $48,000.00. Following the application of insurance benefits, the Hendersons were indebted to the Hospital for an amount in excess of $6,000.00. The Hospital had attempted to collect that balance at the rate of $100.00 per month, however the Hendersons only paid $10.00. The Hendersons’ assets consisted only of an encumbered 1976 Toyota vehicle and a paucity of household goods. There was no showing that at any time the Hendersons possessed resources from which such debts could be paid.
The finding by the county commissioners that the Hendersons were medically indigent as early as January 1982, I find to be clearly supported by the evidence, and thus would hold that the district court was in *677error in overturning that finding. Hence, I cannot agree with the majority’s conclusion that the Hospital’s claim for medical indigent benefits was filed within the statutory time limits.
I would thus reverse the decision of the district court and reinstate the decision of the county commissioners.
BISTLINE, Justice, dissenting.