U.S. Capitol. (Photo: Mike Scarcella/ALM)
Members of the U.S. House voted 371-46 Tuesday to pass H.R. 3253, a bill that would extend the Medicaid long-term care benefits eligibility "spousal impoverishment" rules.
The provision could affect financial professionals with clients married to people who are using Medicaid to pay for home care services or adult day care services.
The Spousal Impoverishment Rules
Federal law normally limits use of Medicaid benefits to low-income people with limited assets.
The eligibility rules tend to be looser for people who are using Medicaid to pay for nursing home care or for other long-term care services, and especially for the spouses of people who are using Medicaid long-term care benefits.
One policymaker goal has been to keep a man or woman from becoming desperately poor simply because a husband or wife is using Medicaid long-term care benefits.
The current rules let the healthier spouse keep extra assets when the sicker spouse is using Medicaid to pay for home care or adult day care services.
Congress has been keeping the anti-spousal impoverishment rules for home and community-based care in place through a series of short-term extensions. The current authorization for those rules is set to expire Sept. 30, 2019.
H.R. 3253 would push the expiration date to March 31, 2024.
The Debate
Some long-term care planners and policy specialists oppose many of the federal and state rules that ease Medicaid eligibility requirements for people who are using Medicaid to pay for long-term care services.
(Related: LTCI Watch: Mr. Moses Went to Washington)
