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May 7, 2009
STATE BUDGET AFFECTS ELDERS
“The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated”. This quote from Mark Twain came to mind recently when I received a call from Bobby, an old friend of mine. It seems that someone saw my last column and called his mother to tell him that I had passed away. Bobby searched the internet to learn about my death but all of his searches came up empty. He says that after he had a good cry, he called his mom back to find out where she saw the news of my demise. Apparently, a friend of his mom’s looked at my last article but only focused on my picture and the first word on the title of the article, “Death and Debts”, and concluded that I had passed away. I am happy to report that I am still here.
Last week the Massachusetts House of Representatives completed voting on the House budget. The budget process now shifts to the Senate, and it is expected that it will release its preliminary budget in mid-May. Any differences between the House budget and Senate budget will be ironed out in the Conference Committee that is made up of members of both the House and Senate.
The initial House Ways and Means Budget that was released on April 15 did not look good for seniors. During last week’s budget debate, there was some good news for seniors, particularly those who are concerned with nursing home placement. Here are a couple of the things that I am following:
NURSING HOME BEDHOLD – Historically, when someone in a nursing home had to be hospitalized for a period of time, MassHealth (Medicaid in Massachusetts) would pay the nursing home for up to 10 days to save the person’s bed. This provision was omitted from the original budget but an amendment was filed to restore this in the final House budget. Without this provision, any time a nursing home resident needed to be hospitalized, the family would have to privately pay to hold their bed in the nursing home.
Some of you might say; what’s the big deal, they could always go to another room, what’s so special about that particular bed? The answer is that if they lost their bed, there might not be another bed available in the same facility, and even just changing rooms is problematic for seniors with memory problems.
PERSONAL NEEDS ALLOWANCE – The Personal Needs Allowance (PNA) is the amount of money a nursing home resident may keep out of their monthly income for spending money. The initial House Ways and Means budget eliminated language included in the last two budgets establishing the Personal Needs Allowance for MassHealth nursing home residents at $72.80. Without this language it would have gone back to $60 per month, the amount nursing home residents have been allowed to keep for the last twenty years, prior to the 2008 increase to $72.80.
This allowance of $72.80 is supposed to cover all of the personal needs of a person in a nursing home. Telephone, cable TV, hairdresser, clothing…, you get the idea, although clearly not enough, it’s better than the historical monthly amount of $60.
The budgetary process now moves to the Senate and I will keep you informed of the progress of these items and any others of interest to seniors in Massachusetts.
This article gives general information and not specific advice on individual matters. Persons wanting individualized advice on matters discussed should contact an advisor experienced in those matters. To the extent this article provides information on legal matters, it is based on law in effect in Massachusetts on the date of posting (laws in effect in other states are often quite different).
Ronald H. Surabian is a CPA and attorney who works at the Elder Law Center in Saugus, Massachusetts. He also holds Masters in accounting and a Masters in tax law. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Friends of the Saugus Senior Center and is a member of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. If you have any questions, please call me at the Elder Law Center, One Essex Street, Saugus, MA 01906 (781)233-4444. To view this or any prior article, please visit our web site at www.elderlawcenter.org