Close up image of a caretaker helping older woman walk

A federal judge has ordered Medicaid officials to work on a plan to restore benefits to the thousands of Mississippi residents cut from the program.

U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate ordered officials to implement the proposal presented that would keep in Medicaid those who qualify in the Poverty Level Aged and Disabled (PLAD) category and poses the least risk of affecting the benefits of all 768,000 people in Medicaid.

Wingate had issued on Friday a temporary restraining order to block changes that would cut about 65,000 beneficiaries in the PLAD category from Medicaid, including many elderly and disabled long-term care residents.

At a hearing on Monday, the judge chose the proposal from three presented by an expert witness for Medicaid for restoring computer data needed to keep PLADs in Medicaid funding. The proposal the judge approved would go into affect by Oct. 15, said Craig Jackson, an account executive for Medicaid’s fiscal officer, Affiliate Computer Services.

Wingate continued the hearing until Oct. 14, the South Mississippi Sun Herald reported. Governor Haley Barbour had proposed the cut in an effort to decrease Medicaid costs, but several groups, joined by Attorney General Jim Hood, protested, asking for an investigation as to whether beneficiaries had been given proper notice of the upcoming boot from Medicaid.