Nursing home patients from southcentral Kentucky are among defendants in a federal lawsuit filed to block state cuts in Medicaid. Legal Aid lawyers filed the suit Thursday in Frankfort on behalf of 10 elderly or disabled people being cut from the state Medicaid program. Some of those people in the lawsuit are from the 10-county Barren River area, according to Ruth Morgan, long-term care ombudsman for the Barren River Area Development District. The suit alleges the cuts violate federal law that requires states to set reasonable standards for providing Medicaid services. It also alleges the state has violated the rights of Medicaid clients by providing inadequate or confusing and conflicting notices that they are being terminated from Medicaid. I have about 35 cases in my drawer from people who received letters that services would be cut, Morgan said. For anyone who filed an appeal within a reasonable amount of time, Medicaid is required to continue paying those services. But there still is a real concern about what will happen to those people in the end, Morgan said. Those same people also might not qualify for a variety of home health services, she said. The attorney for the case is hoping for change in the regulations. We should all feel shamed in this state the governor, the legislature, all of us about how we are taking care of the elderly and frail, said Anne Marie Regan, a lawyer with the Office of Kentucky Legal Services Programs. If it takes a lawsuit to change things, then so be it. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Frankfort, asks Judge Joseph Hood to order the state to stop the cuts and rescind all previous cuts it began in April to help eliminate a shortfall in the Medicaid budget. It also asks that he authorize the lawsuit to proceed as a class-action case on behalf of thousands of Kentuckians likely to be affected. Named as defendants are Health Services Secretary Marcia Morgan and Medicaid Commissioner Mike Robinson, the officials who are carrying out the new rules. Those officials declined to comment Thursday, Health Services spokesman Gil Lawson said. The new rules, adopted on an emergency basis by Medicaid, have generated growing concern among lawmakers as those being cut off, their families and advocates for the elderly and disabled have flocked to recent meetings in protest. Last month the joint House-Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted to ask Gov. Paul Patton to withdraw the new rules, but the governor rejected the request, saying lawmakers had failed to provide sufficient funding for Medicaid. The committee members are to formally review the rules this month and could reject them by finding them deficient. House Speaker Jody Richards predicts that once the full General Assembly reconvenes in January it will become involved in the Medicaid funding dilemma. We will be doing everything we can to make sure that people who qualify are not booted out of nursing homes, said Richards, D-Bowling Green. The lawsuits plaintiffs include three women in nursing homes, six people getting home health or adult day care services in the community and one in a personal care home who left her nursing home after she was cut from Medicaid. Seven have appealed and have kept services while the appeals are pending but three were cut off and lost Medicaid services. Thelma Garmon, 70, of Edmonton, who lost home health services in July, is one of the 10 plaintiffs. Disabled by polio as an infant, unable to walk and suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, Garmon said she had never sought any help until Medicaid began providing home health assistance six years ago at her doctors recommendation. All my life, I never drew anything from the government. I never took nothing, she said. Now, theyve took away everything that was really helping me out. Among the 10 plaintiffs still receiving services is Vada Kerr, 93, who has had both legs amputated and suffers from circulatory problems, congestive heart failure, hypertension, anxiety and an esophageal blockage. Shes on 11 medications. She has appealed Medicaids decision in June that she no longer needs to be in the nursing home where shes lived since 2002. But the stress of awaiting a decision is wearing on her, said Judy Hampton, who is married to Kerrs nephew. I dont think its fair, Hampton said. I hope this lawsuit reverses it. The lawsuit alleges that Medicaids new rules are too rigid and are cutting people with serious medical needs who are entitled to services. The rules rely on a checklist of nine conditions at least three of which the client must meet to keep services. The suit said the rules are too narrow and dont allow for a physicians opinion or special circumstances of an individual. It certainly sounded like they have got a point, Richards said. As soon as we can get involved we will. I am so concerned about this Medicaid situation and I will do whatever I can to help. Its a very important function of government to help those who need help. The Associated Press contributed information for this story.