Posted on 12/16/2013 7:39:27 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
As thousands of state residents enroll in Washington’s expanded Medicaid program, many will be surprised at fine print: After you’re dead, your estate can be billed for ordinary health-care expenses. State officials are scrambling to change the rule.
It wasn’t the moonlight, holiday-season euphoria or family pressure that made Sofia Prins and Gary Balhorn, both 62, suddenly decide to get married.
It was the fine print.
As fine print is wont to do, it had buried itself in a long form — Balhorn’s application for free health insurance through the expanded state Medicaid program. As the paperwork lay on the dining-room table in Port Townsend, Prins began reading.
She was shocked: If you’re 55 or over, Medicaid can come back after you’re dead and bill your estate for ordinary health-care expenses.
The way Prins saw it, that meant health insurance via Medicaid is hardly “free” for Washington residents 55 or older. It’s a loan, one whose payback requirements aren’t well advertised. And it penalizes people who, despite having a low income, have managed to keep a home or some savings they hope to pass to heirs, Prins said.
With an estimated 223,000 adults seeking health insurance headed toward Washington’s expanded Medicaid program over the next three years, the state’s estate-recovery rules, which allow collection of nearly all medical expenses, have come under fire.
Medicaid, in keeping with federal policy, has long tapped into estates. But because most low-income adults without disabilities could not qualify for typical medical coverage through Medicaid, recovery primarily involved expenses for nursing homes and other long-term care.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.com ...
Anyways, here is an article that discusses this, from 2005. It's been this way for a long time.
That is completely screwy.
Depends on the state. The Undertakers may no bury you if you have a discount casket.
Every facility has a certain amount of room for Medicaid patients.
In the rehab center where my father was for 21 days, it was on a separate floor. There was a gaggle of younger “career” medicaid people, sad to say.
As patient’s assets are exhausted (which, of course, is done as quickly as possible for maximum profit), they are changed over to medicaid.
I know from a bit of palliative care reading that it’s quite easy to medicate to induce death without actually administering a poison. Apparently they’ve discovered that death comes rather swiftly when a patient’s basically “gives up” internally, and certain drugs cause this kind of relaxation in terminally ill patients.
Perhaps this type of technique is used in the “nursing” industry. I’m not a doctor, but I would think dehydration, diet, sleep, etc., could be set up in certain ways to get an older patient’s body to start to struggle or be uncomfortable, then administer the relaxer.
I know in my fathers rehab they kept blood sugar routinely near 200 instead of 100, which is highly inadvisable from what I understand on a long-term basis. This was simply done for convenience so staff would basically never have to hustle for a patient with a low blood sugar event. They would also routinely administer insulin prior to dinner, but then taking the patient to dinner or bringing it in was haphazardly done at best. If they targeted to have the patients at 100 prior to meals the delay before eating would have routinely produced low blood sugar events.
IMHO, that’s not “healthcare” that’s worthy of $400 per day.
One of my sets of grandparents had the same nursing-home vulturism take away their assets. Same scenario, you don’t seem to live much past your money.
She was comfortable with using her savings to pay for the nursing home, and if she had needed to be there the first three and a half years, I would agree with her. I think she would have been happier, safer, and better off financially if the daughter had made other arrangements.
She just needed a little supervision, help, and to understand her limits - which would have meant relying on a wheel chair a bit.
BUT the “care” she received was not worth near the cost. The rooms were bare, and of course you had to bring your own furniture. She complained of having to wait long times for someone to assist her to the bathroom when she needed help. Sometimes over an hour. The food was unimpressive institutional food. They charge extra for everything, including laundry - so we would do her laundry for her. It’s a weird world in the nursing home. I suggest everyone go spend a few hours at one visiting with some one - or on a tour. It’s like living inside of one those old “sad clown” paintings.
“Sometimes you just gotta take a pill” -Barrack Hussein Obama
In Oregon, state officials changed estate-recovery rules last month.Recovery will no longer apply to health benefits for those 55 and over, the Oregon Health Authority said, although the state will collect expenses for long-term care.
On Friday, Washington Medicaid Director MaryAnne Lindeblad promised to draft an emergency rule very soon. The state also must revise the plan filed with federal authorities, but Lindeblad said she doesn’t expect problems or appeals of the rule.
In 1994, Medicaid Estate Recovery was strengthened considerably beyond just long-term care expenses to pretty much any service or even premium paid under Medicaid. The fact the premiums and capitation are included means even a Medicaid member without any claims is going to owe $5,000-14,000 a year (depending on state) from his estate. Now it appears the 1994 changes will be rolled back, at least in some of the states expanding Medicaid.
Correct, except for Texas (I think, or maybe it was SNAP/food stamps).
You are speaking about Traditional Medicaid, not Expanded Medicaid, but you probably know that by now. Even there, exemptions for assets exist.
I should say that assets are no longer counted for eligibility purposes for Expanded Medicaid (up to age 64), and for non-senior Medicaid in most states that didn’t adopt Expanded Medicaid, but I believe an asset evaluation process still is in place for 65+ Medicaid, when Medicaid benefits can be awarded in conjunction with Medicare for impoverished persons.
And I'm sure, when tax time comes around, you'll tell your preparer you're not interested in any loopholes, deductions, etc. because that would be unethical.
Or when your own time comes for a nursing home, you'll do zero to preserve any assets for your kids & grandkids because, you know, that would be unethical.
This is the most fair part of a badly flawed law. You get what you pay for even if they have to pick it from your carcass. They might want to force the body to be donated to science as well.
If you don’t like it then stop taking handouts from a corrupt government and vote for people who represent you not give you other people’s money!
No one is forced into the system. She could have opted to not enroll. Not liking one’s choice’s is not the same as having no choices.
In the case of the woman cited in the WSJ article, her “choices” were to accept Medicaid or to cease to have health insurance.
sitetest
Does anyone know if you can ‘sell’ or give your house to your kids?
Techically I don’t own very much of it (yet) so I would keep making the payments
bkmrk
Medicaid has a five year and ten year look back. So, unless the house was given away 10 years before you sign up for Medicaid, the state can come back and claim it. It varies from state to state, but that’s the general gist of it.
Many have stated they don't think they should have to pay for medicare of others, I tell them I am 75 and have 13 grandchildren but still have to pay taxes for their kids schools..via taxes that the schools try to raise more money for just about every year. With kids coming out of schools dumb but might know how to put a condom on a banana.
Like I said she had a choice. She made her choice.
Medicaid is government charity. It should be paid back if there are assets....
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