New Jersey's top court says the state may legally deny Medicaid benefits to adult non-citizens who are in the United States legally but have been here less than five years.
The state Supreme Court in a split decision released Monday affirmed a lower court ruling allowing the denial. The justices did not issue a new opinion in the case.
Chief Justice Stuart Rabner and Justice Barry Albin both voted to reverse the decision.
The state started allowing non-residents into its Medicaid program in 2005, reasoning that offering the coverage would result in lower emergency hospital charity care bills.
Amid a budget crisis in 2010, the state changed its policy again, denying the coverage.
The lower court found that was permissible under a 1996 federal law.
