Medicaid has lien on special needs Trust

Waldman v. Condia NJ Super. ______(App. Div. 1999) (A-347-8712 and A-681-8712, decided January 28, 1999).
The State is entitled to recover Medicaid payments in full from the settlement of a beneficiary's tort claim. The right to reimbursement may not be defeated or postponed by dedicating proceeds of the settlement to establishing a special - needs trust. For purposes of Medicaid recovery, an award to a beneficiary's parents on account of injuries for the treatment of which Medicaid funds were paid is considered an award to the beneficiary. Under the New Jersey Medicaid statute, a court is not authorized to allocate the proceeds of a settlement to specific categories of damages or to compromise a Medicaid lien.