Medicaid shift faces challenge
An eight-week-old law that allows Massachusetts to sell homes of some elderly Medicaid recipients after they die has come back under scrutiny on Beacon Hill.
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The law, part of the budget approved by state lawmakers and signed by Governor Mitt Romney, enables the state to collect some deceased Medicaid recipients' assets and estates in an attempt to recoup health care costs. Legislators and state health care officials outlined the law yesterday at a crowded news conference at the State House, and some lawmakers said they are already taking steps to repeal the measure.
"Perhaps we were a little hasty in passing this legislation," said Representative Thomas N. George, a Yarmouth Republican. "This change should not have come in one of the 700 outside sections of the budget."
George, whose Cape Cod district includes a large elderly population, is cosponsoring a bill that would overturn the law. George said he is in favor of the theory behind the legislation, but said it needs to be retooled.
The lawmakers yesterday did not offer many details of how they would change the law.
Seniors on Medicaid often put their homes in the names of a spouse or child, reducing their net worth and becoming more likely to qualify for nursing home coverage and other benefits under the state and federal program.
The new law is meant to expand estate recovery and thwart attempts to "shield" assets. For Medicaid recipients who died before July 1, the law allows the state to collect homes and assets held in shared ownership with a spouse or child. For recipients who die after July 1, the state can seize their interest in assets that are outside their probate estate.
The state will not require payment while a spouse, blind child, or permanently disabled child is living, or any child is under 21.
Representative Peter J. Koutoujian, chairman of the Committee on Health Care, said it is common for senior citizens to detach assets and keep them from being counted against their Medicaid.
"If I have so much money in assets, I'd rather the money go to my children or my spouse than to go to the state," said the Waltham Democrat. "But someone is paying for it. The state is paying for hundreds of millions of dollars a year in the fact that people are skirting their obligation to pay for their health care."
Beth Waldman, acting deputy commissioner with the state's Division of Medical Assistance, which oversees the program, said the measure is designed "to ensure that we are spending the state's money on the people who need the state's assistance."
Brendan McCarthy can be reached at bmccarthy@globe.com.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
