Expanded Medicaid’s fine print holds surprise: ‘payback’ from estate after death

The Seattle Times ^ | 12-15-13 | Carol Ostrom

[afraidfortherepublic]

As thousands of state residents enroll in Washington’s expanded Medicaid program, many will be surprised at fine print: After you’re dead, your estate can be billed for ordinary health-care expenses. State officials are scrambling to change the rule.

It wasn’t the moonlight, holiday-season euphoria or family pressure that made Sofia Prins and Gary Balhorn, both 62, suddenly decide to get married.

It was the fine print.

As fine print is wont to do, it had buried itself in a long form — Balhorn’s application for free health insurance through the expanded state Medicaid program. As the paperwork lay on the dining-room table in Port Townsend, Prins began reading.

She was shocked: If you’re 55 or over, Medicaid can come back after you’re dead and bill your estate for ordinary health-care expenses.

The way Prins saw it, that meant health insurance via Medicaid is hardly “free” for Washington residents 55 or older. It’s a loan, one whose payback requirements aren’t well advertised. And it penalizes people who, despite having a low income, have managed to keep a home or some savings they hope to pass to heirs, Prins said.

With an estimated 223,000 adults seeking health insurance headed toward Washington’s expanded Medicaid program over the next three years, the state’s estate-recovery rules, which allow collection of nearly all medical expenses, have come under fire.

Medicaid, in keeping with federal policy, has long tapped into estates. But because most low-income adults without disabilities could not qualify for typical medical coverage through Medicaid, recovery primarily involved expenses for nursing homes and other long-term care.

[MrB]

I think it’s fair to say that

the Obama administration’s domestic policy can be summed up in two words:

“Get Whitey”

[Alberta's Child]

I find it baffling that so many people here on FR would complain about this, when the reality is that without government-run health care most of the people mentioned in these articles would probably have died long before they ever reached this point. LOL.

[nascarnation]

Get Whitey, unless he’s really wealthy and contributes to “progressive” causes, LOL

[Gaffer]

Thanks...glad to know. For those who actually PLAN for the future.

[Sacajaweau]

I think it’s more than 3 years now....5 or 7 I think

[Georgia Girl 2]

This isn’t really new. In order to get into a nursing home on even Medicare you have to basically go through every dime you have before it kicks in. That includes equity in real estate.

[Red Badger]

Free ain’t free..................

[gdani]

Thanks...glad to know. For those who actually PLAN for the future.

Yes - if people plan far enough in advance they can legally & carefully liquidate their assets in a way that preserves at least some inheritance for grandchildren & children.

The problem is many (most?) people do not think about how they may need a nursing home several years in the future so they ignore careful planning.

[lepton]

It depends. For many people Medicaid is junk. They are now forcing people on it. Are the reclaiming only the actual medical expenses, or also imputed premiums?

[sitetest]

Dear Alberta's Child,

Not everyone on Medicaid or going on Medicaid is in these circumstances. However, my understanding is that because the DeathCare law expands who is eligible for Medicaid, a large number of those newly-eligible are folks with a bit more money and often some assets.

Here is a link to an article about the woman that I cited:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303531204579207724152219590

It makes no mention of property in this article, but I can imagine that many people similarly-situated may have a home or a few assets, and find that they are being forced into Medicaid quite against their will, and for those with a few assets, against their own interests.

Expanded Medicaid eligibility - and forced enrollment - will ensnare more folks into this trap.

sitetest

[faithhopecharity]

if they or their estate can, why in hell shouldn’t they pay back the taxpayers? what’s so shocking about paying for what you take?

I think they should have paid for what they took when they took it, the govt should not be spending tax money giving things to people who don’t need the taxpayers’ “charity”

fix how the govt operates ... and then there will be a lot of money freed up ... that can be used for the (far fewer) cases where there’s real need ....and the majority of the funds can be refunded to the taxpayers. Thus we will achieve a far, far fairer system ...and some genuine stimulus for the sick Obama economy

[Busywhiskers]

I find it interesting how people use the words “healthcare” and “free” together.

[painter]

You can go online and buy a coffin at a fraction of the price the funeral homes charge.

$3500 coffin $700-$1000 on line.

[LucyT]

I don't see a problem with forcing people to tap their own net worth to pay their medical bills if they are uninsured. That's what the rest of us have to do, isn't it?

Agree.

[Parmy]

The ride is free, but you can’t keep what you squirreled away unless you do it 3 years before.

If I am not mistaken, the rule is now 5 years. My mother's estate was under the 3 year rule, just barely before it was changed several years ago.

[PieterCasparzen]

That is true. But in ANY case wrt Medicaid, I believe the cost of managing one’s death at taxpayer expense should be repaid.

Hospital visits and surgeries allow for the generation of enormous overbilled bills.

Most Americans would be turned away for not being able to come up with the cash needed to pay those bills.

The medical industry is an arm of new world order, which has among its goals controlling medicine and generating profits, as well as providing financing (debt financing) for equipment and buildings, as well as government programs. Allowing the surgeries, etc., to proceed, and charging the enormous bills to insurance companies and the government accomplishes these goals.

New world order gladly provides the medical care for those who can't write a check for say $160,000 but on their terms, i.e., accepting NWO healthcare policy (like support for abortion, allowing them to determine your "end of life", NWO research directions, etc. Of course they also require that someone pays them for your procedure. Government provides the cash up front if you are not already paying them health insurance premiums, and of course government only gets part of its spendable cash from current tax revenue; the rest is borrowed via NWO's global bond peddling syndicate.

This is why complete and inexpensive cures are abandoned if they are accidentally stumbled across by new world order-controlled researchers (virtually all), in favor of medicine that only mitigates diseases and conditions, allowing the hapless sheeple to live with their diseases and conditions their whole life and continue to ring up charges for their medicines, procedures, etc.

[GreyHoundSailor]

That’s why irrevocable trusts exist.

[Scrambler Bob]

The extortion would be when the govt requires them to purchase the health ins, in this case through medicaid, making them sign over their house when they could have chosen an affordable method to cover their health care except for that same govt.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***She was shocked: If you’re 55 or over, Medicaid can come back after you’re dead and bill your estate for ordinary health-care expenses.****

Yes they can! We found that out when my mom and my mother-in-law died in a nursing home.

Put everything in a Revocable Trust to keep their hands off!

[AppyPappy]

Yes but you have to do it 5 years ahead of time.