05-15-09 A.B. v. DIVISION OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
& HEALTH SERVICES and CAMDEN COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL
SERVICES
A-1855-06T1
We rejected the petitioner's contention that he was not
subject to the five-year bar on receipt of New Jersey Care
benefits pursuant to N.J.A.C. 10:72-3.2. That regulation is
applicable to lawful permanent residents (LPRs) entering the
United States on or after August 22, 1996, which imposes a five-
year bar on benefits. He contended that his travel to the
United States three times before that date when he stayed for
six months in 1992 and two months each in 1994 and 1996 exempted
him from the five-year bar even though he only entered the
United States as a lawful permanent resident on December 1,
2005.
The New Jersey Medical Assistance and Health Benefits Act,
N.J.S.A. 30:4D-1 to -19.5, defines "eligible alien," N.J.S.A.
30:42-3q, and that definition clearly creates two classes of
lawful permanent residents——those who entered the United States
before August 22, 1996, and those who entered on or after that
date. Ibid. The regulations governing New Jersey Care Benefits
cannot be construed to avoid this statutory definition and
create a third class——those who visited the United States before
August 22, 1996, who then became lawful permanent residents on
or after that date, thus avoiding the five-year bar that the
Legislature imposed on receipt of benefits under the Act.
