Medicaid: Recoveries from Nursing Home Residents' Estates Could Offset Program Costs.
Abstract
This report discusses the potential for estate recovery programs to help offset state and federal Medicaid nursing home costs while removing an inequity in the program. The inequity involves some nursing home residents with homes having to contribute less toward the cost of their care than recipients with more liquid assets. The report discusses the need for the Congress to consider making mandatory the establishment of estate recovery programs. An increasing proportion of Medicaid funds finance nursing home care for people who become eligible because high medical expenses deplete their financial resources. Such recipients, known as the medically needy, must deplete their available financial resources before turning to Medicaid, but they are generally allowed to keep their homes for as long as they or certain of their dependents need them. Concerns about the treatment of the recipients' assets have included: That the elderly will dispose of their assets for less than their real value in order to become eligible for Medicaid, and that the elderly whose assets include a home may not have to contribute as much toward the cost of their care as those whose assets are more liquid. (sdw)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA206056
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office