Bush Administration Reportedly Endorses House Transfer Changes
Last Updated: 12/24/2005
Topic: Medicaid
The Bush administration has given its blessing to provisions in the House budget reconciliation bill (H.R. 4241) that would make it far more difficult for the middle-class elderly to gain Medicaid coverage of nursing home care, according to McKnight's Long-Term Care News. Such support, says McKnight's, "increases the likelihood these provisions will remain in the final budget."
McNight's source is a Nov. 23 Bureau of National Affairs article stating that "The Bush administration has announced support for most of the key Medicaid elements in the House fiscal year 2006 reconciliation bill (H.R. 4241), particularly the provisions to tighten rules regarding asset transfers and to give states greater flexibility to administer Medicaid programs."
The House measure would extend Medicaid's "lookback" period for all asset transfers from three to five years and change the start of the penalty period for transferred assets from the date of transfer to the date of Medicaid application. The bill also would make any individual with home equity above $750,000 ineligible for Medicaid nursing home care.
Speaking to the National Association of State Medicaid Directors on Nov. 8, Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services Administrator Mark McClellan said that as the bill goes to conference committee with a Senate budget bill (S. 1932) that makes only modest changes in the asset transfer rules, the administration will continue to work closely with legislators. Congress is expected to begin work on resolving the starkly different proposals in early December.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post is reporting that while Democratic lawmakers in Washington are united in their opposition to the Medicaid cutbacks in the House bill, "Democratic governors are quietly supporting the provisions and questioning the party's reflexive denunciations." The Congressional Research Service (CRS), the public policy research arm of Congress, has produced a 192-page side-by-side comparison of the Medicaid and Medicare provisions of S. 1932 and H.R. 4241. Although the CRS does not distribute its reports to the public, the National Senior Citizens Law Center says the report is or will be available on its Web site. Go to http://www.nsclc.org/
Last Updated: 12/24/2005
Topic: Medicaid
The Bush administration has given its blessing to provisions in the House budget reconciliation bill (H.R. 4241) that would make it far more difficult for the middle-class elderly to gain Medicaid coverage of nursing home care, according to McKnight's Long-Term Care News. Such support, says McKnight's, "increases the likelihood these provisions will remain in the final budget."
McNight's source is a Nov. 23 Bureau of National Affairs article stating that "The Bush administration has announced support for most of the key Medicaid elements in the House fiscal year 2006 reconciliation bill (H.R. 4241), particularly the provisions to tighten rules regarding asset transfers and to give states greater flexibility to administer Medicaid programs."
The House measure would extend Medicaid's "lookback" period for all asset transfers from three to five years and change the start of the penalty period for transferred assets from the date of transfer to the date of Medicaid application. The bill also would make any individual with home equity above $750,000 ineligible for Medicaid nursing home care.
Speaking to the National Association of State Medicaid Directors on Nov. 8, Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services Administrator Mark McClellan said that as the bill goes to conference committee with a Senate budget bill (S. 1932) that makes only modest changes in the asset transfer rules, the administration will continue to work closely with legislators. Congress is expected to begin work on resolving the starkly different proposals in early December.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post is reporting that while Democratic lawmakers in Washington are united in their opposition to the Medicaid cutbacks in the House bill, "Democratic governors are quietly supporting the provisions and questioning the party's reflexive denunciations." The Congressional Research Service (CRS), the public policy research arm of Congress, has produced a 192-page side-by-side comparison of the Medicaid and Medicare provisions of S. 1932 and H.R. 4241. Although the CRS does not distribute its reports to the public, the National Senior Citizens Law Center says the report is or will be available on its Web site. Go to http://www.nsclc.org/
