Deficit Reduction Act Heightens Need
for Competent Medicaid Legal AdviceUnder the pretense of stopping abuses of the Medicaid program for long-term care, Congress included in the February 8, 2006 final version of the “Deficit Reduction Act of 2005” (DRA or DEFRA) some unusually punitive new provisions to make it more difficult to qualify for Medicaid after transferring assets.
Two of the more striking provisions: - Asset transfers any time within 5 years preceding the Medicaid application must be disclosed. How many Senior Citizens in failing health even keep records that long?
- The ineligibility resulting from asset transfers made as long as 5 years prior won’t even start until an applicant it in long-term care and otherwise eligible for Medicaid. This is a huge potential trap for the unwary Medicaid applicant.
Since Medicaid is administered by the states, the changes passed by Congress await state-by-state implementation through each state’s regulatory process. In Indiana, our Governor’s priority has been Medicaid privatization, so there’s no sign yet (as of August 6, 2007) of even draft DRA regulations in Indiana.
This creates uncertainty for longer-range Medicaid planning, but for those who need Medicaid long-term care benefits immediately or in the short range, we’re still under the older and less punitive rules for the near future.
Now more than ever, families facing Medicaid applications need competent legal advice.
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