VA (Veterans Administration) Pensions to Medicaid Nursing Home Residents Should Be Reduced.
Abstract
Under title 38 of the U.S. Code, a VA pension is reduced to $60 a month if the beneficiary enters a VA-supported nursing home and does not have a spouse or other dependent living in the community. A similar provision does not exist, however, when the beneficiary enters a nursing home as a Medicaid patient. Because Medicaid recipients must apply any cash income and benefits they receive toward the cost of their care, the VA pensions do not generally benefit veterans and their survivors. Instead, they reduce Medicaid program costs. The primary beneficiaries of the reduced Medicaid costs are the states. We estimate that in fiscal year 1986, continuing VA pension payments to about 18,500 Medicaid nursing home residents in the eight states we reviewed cost the federal government about $27.2 million. The eight states accounted for about 34 percent of total Medicaid nursing home patients in fiscal year 1985. To eliminate the VA subsidy to the states, the Congress should ammend title 38 to require that the VA pension for veterans and their survivors who enter a nursing home under Medicaid be reduced using one of two options. Neither option should adversely affect veterans' access to nursing home care or the income of the spouse or dependent remaining in the community. Keywords: Medical services; Public health.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1987
- Accession Number
- ADA183821