Not my Packer tickets!
Wisconsin to claim marital property for Medicaid debts
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Aug. 19, 2013 |
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Written byTodd RichmondAssociated Press
FILED UNDER GPG-Local News
MADISON — Provisions buried in the new Wisconsin budget dramatically expanded the state’s ability to claim dead couples’ joint property, such as Green Bay Packers tickets or the family farm, to recoup Medicaid expenses — even if the assets are protected in trusts.
The language is designed to help the state recover Medicaid money spent on a number of long-term care programs, most notably Family Care, which helps keep disabled and elderly people out of costly nursing homes.
It’s unlikely the changes will take effect for months, but attorneys who specialize in elder law say they’re already creating concern among seniors who want to leave property to their children and other beneficiaries. The state has prioritized recovering every dollar spent on Medicaid over families’ well-being, said Carol Wessels, a Wauwatosa attorney and former chair of the state bar’s Elder Law Section Board of Directors.
“My clients are stunned,” Wessels said.
Medicaid is a state and federal partnership. Federal law requires states to recover Medicaid payouts for long-term care from a deceased recipient’s estate. The state budget language goes far beyond that, creating a presumption that marital property owned within the five years before the recipient applied for Medicaid coverage is fair game after the surviving spouse dies.
The provisions would allow DHS to claim property even if it’s not subject to probate, a legal process creditors can use to settle debt after a death, or held in a trust, a financial arrangement in which a third party, such as a bank, holds assets until they’re passed on to beneficiaries. People often use trusts to protect property from probate.
Federal rules also prohibit people from divesting or giving away property to make themselves poor enough to qualify for a long-term Medicaid program. However, the regulations allow applicants to transfer some assets, such as interest in a business, at less than market value without penalty.
The Wisconsin budget eliminates that exemption, which means a Wisconsin resident seeking Medicaid coverage for long-term care would have to sell his or her assets, such as a share of a family business or farmland, for full market value even if it was going to a child. |
