Georgia's Medicaid program is facing more legal trouble over its treatment of people with disabilities.

In a suit against Department of Community Health officials, attorneys allege Medicaid is violating state and federal law by delaying hearings of disabled people who have appealed decisions about their care.

Federal Medicaid rules require a decision within 90 days of an appeal, said Charles Bliss, an attorney with Atlanta Legal Aid Society, which, along with Georgia Legal Services Program, filed the suit Friday in Fulton County Superior Court.

State officials Tuesday declined comment on the lawsuit. Community Health, though, issued a statement acknowledging the backlog of appeals: "The Department is committed to taking steps to address this issue, including adding additional attorneys and legal support," the statement said.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of a recent Medicaid ruling by a federal judge in the case of a developmentally disabled North Georgia girl. In that ruling, U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Thrash found the state can't deny funding for services prescribed by a patient's physician.

Medicaid, a health insurance program that covers the poor and disabled, is jointly financed by the federal and state governments.

The latest lawsuit alleges that hundreds of Georgians have faced illegally long waits for hearings, as they attempted to appeal Medicaid rejections of medical services. Many of those appeals filed in 2007 still have not been heard, legal-aid attorneys said.

The cases show that "Medicaid operations are denying or delaying care that the beneficiaries need," said Linda Lowe, a consumer health advocate.

One plaintiff in the suit filed Friday, Wendi Harkins, 39, of Summerville, is a paraplegic with various other medical problems who wants to stay in her North Georgia apartment. She said she needs four more hours a day of home care from the state Medicaid program, up from her current allotment of eight hours a day.

Without the extra care, she will have more health problems, she said — and will be in danger of having to return to a nursing home. Even with added hours, her care at home is estimated to cost less than a nursing home, her attorneys said.

Harkins has Medicaid coverage through a special program for people with disabilities that provides home services as an alternative to long-term institutionalization. Her home care includes help with bathing, dressing, cooking and cleaning, as well as medical services.

Medicaid turned down her latest request for the additional care in January. Harkins appealed that decision in February. Her appeal still hasn't been heard.

Her case hasn't even been transferred to the office that hears such appeals, Bliss said.

"They have a backlog," Bliss said. "It's no accident. They're aware of the problem and are not resolving it. They need to set up a system that works."

The lawsuit demands a prompt hearing and decision for Harkins and two other plaintiffs.

"I feel it's negligent on [the state's] part," Harkins said. "They've got people out there who are sick, and they're ignoring their problems."

A second plaintiff, Stephen Lehnert, 55, who has multiple sclerosis, lives in a Canton nursing home. He has been waiting since March 13 for a hearing on the state's denial of his request to enter a Medicaid program that would allow him to live in an apartment.

The nursing home, he said, "is not the greatest environment to hang out with your kids."

"Because of these delays, I'm kind of in limbo," Lehnert said. "I don't understand why it's taking so long."