Justice Won: A new advocate hits the ground running

This week, one of our legal interns, a student at Temple University Beasley School of Law, won a case on behalf of a man who has been living with HIV for 20 years and recently diagnosed with cancer.

After his cancer diagnosis, the client’s live-in partner began to cover all of the household expenses. As the client wasn’t spending any money, he began to accumulate resources.

Out of the blue, he was notified that he was over the resource limit and no longer eligible for Medical Assistance (MA). The resource limit for MA is $2,000.

The client contacted us for assistance in understanding the eligibility rules.

Our intern reviewed the case and determined that although he had not been eligible because he was over resources, he was now eligible again now that he reduced his resources. The challenge was to explain that to the County Assistance Office (CAO) without an interruption of his benefits.

Just 3 weeks after becoming court-certified in Pennsylvania, our intern successfully argued to the CAO worker that the client’s benefits should be reinstated.

Thanks to our court-certified legal intern’s advocacy, our client now understands the rules of the road to maintaining his medical benefits without interruption, and our intern is on the right road to being a public-interest attorney.