June 29, 2004

Medicaid Crisis Needs More Than Extension of Deadlines

By Wendell Dawson, Editor, AVOC, Inc.

It is unbelievable how anyone could visit a long-term care facility in Georgia and then feel that terminating benefits is the solution.

As we age, we know many folks (relatives and friends) who may need long-term care.  Modern medicine is  able to pro-long life in today’s world to many more years but it does not necessarily continue a quality of life.

Maybe we are living too long!  However, many elderly citizens cannot care for themselves and cannot be left unattended.   Often a caregiver, if there is one, is faced with the choice of not being employed or using long-term care facilities.  Without such facilities, some care-givers would be living in a prison atmosphere.

Before making decisions on medical coverage in Georgia, all public officials should visit at least five nursing homes and walk down every hall.  Then they will have a better background to deal with a mounting but critical problem.

The Georgia Report

            CapitolImpact.Com

June 24, 2004

Estate recovery proposal slammed

By Tom Crawford

Georgia’s proposal to save money for the Medicaid program by making claims against the estates of deceased nursing home patients ran into a buzzsaw of opposition Thursday at a public hearing in Atlanta.

Angry citizens, many of them with parents or other relatives in nursing homes, said the estate recovery proposal was unfair to elderly nursing home residents and amounted to "theft" of their hard-earned houses and real estate.

Several of those who commented at the hearing held by the Department of Community Health (DCH) blamed the estate recovery proposal on Gov. Sonny Perdue and threatened not to vote for him again.

"I voted for Governor Perdue and I promise you if he does stuff like this he won’t have my vote again," said William Morris. "This is theft – this is just hard-core theft."

The estate recovery program will apply to Medicaid patients in nursing homes or mental care facilities who are at least 55 years old at the time of their death. DCH will be authorized to file a claim against the real estate, cash or other personal property left behind by the deceased patient to recover the costs of providing the Medicaid benefits.

The estate recovery program was included in the state budget for fiscal year 2005 as one of several ways for DCH to save Medicaid money. It is projected to bring in about $
million for the Medicaid program, with about $
million of that going to the state treasury and the remainder to the federal government.

Estate recovery programs have been federally required for state governments since 1993. Georgia and Michigan are the only two states that have not yet implemented such a program, DCH officials said.

Regardless of the federal mandate, citizens testifying at Thursday’s hearing said the program should not be applied to Georgia nursing homes.

"They’re going for the jugular vein, in my opinion," said Pat Lamb, a retired state employee who said she once worked in a Medicaid nursing home. "Why go after the seniors? If you’re going to cut the Medicaid budget, cut it all the way across the board."

"Our elderly people in this state have paid their dues, they have a right to healthcare," said Herb Butler, a 77-year-old retiree. "It’s a shame for us and a shame for this state if they don’t recognize this."

Butler blamed the estate recovery proposal on Perdue and the Republican-controlled state senate. "I do not think we should be the victims of politics, but we are," he said.

"This is not fair, it’s discriminatory, and it probably should be illegal," said Claudine Morris. "I do blame Governor Perdue for this. I don’t blame President Bush – he already has enough to take care of."

"This stuff is reminiscent of what we’re fighting against overseas," said William Morris. "We might as well have Saddam Hussein in here running this thing."

No members of the state Board of Community Health attended Thursday’s hearing. The board is expected to adopt the proposed estate recovery regulations at their July 14 meeting.