NGA Recommendations Include Increasing "Look Back"
Period for Asset Transfers
The National Governors' Association (NGA) recently released
more detailed recommendations aimed at Medicaid reform. One area specifically
targeted includes strengthening asset transfer rules. If approved, the proposed
change would increase the "look back" period for beneficiaries'
asset transfers from three years to five years. Much worse, it would move
the start date of the penalty period. Currently, the penalty begins to run
when the gift is made. Small gifts, appropriately, result in a small disqualification
period. The proposal would cause the penalty period to begin at the later
of the date of Medicaid application, or when the applicant would otherwise
be eligible (in need of nursing home care with assets other than the home
of less than $2,000). This means any gift, no matter how small, would result
in a disqualifying penalty unless nursing home admission were more than
five years later.
Additional recommendations proposed by the NGA include the
following:
- Regarding the home as a countable asset and requiring
the use of home equity through reverse mortgages to finance nursing home
care;
- Streamlining the waiver application process for states;
- Allowing states to offer different benefits packages depending
upon the beneficiaries' health.
These recommendations coincide with efforts by the Senate
Finance Committee to provide sources for slashing spending by $10 billion
over the next five years. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R), chair of
NGA, said, "These latest recommendations are part of our ongoing process
to find ways to reform Medicaid." Huckabee added, "They are driven
by good public policy and are designed to make Medicaid more efficient and
effective, not to generate any particular budget saving number."
Source: Medical News Today, 9-1-05
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