Douglas Sea of Legal Services of Southern Piedmont reiterated some of my points and distorted some aspects of the proposed rules for Medicaid long-term care while ignoring the need to act now to limit eligibility.
First, our points of agreement. Most people now do not have long-term care insurance, nor do many people use reverse mortgages to pay for their nursing home stay. If fewer people expected Medicaid to cover the tab, the popularity of both products for financing would increase. Also, those who need nursing home care should exhaust their savings before qualifying for Medicaid. Otherwise, the program diverts money from the poor to those with resources.
Relatively few people transfer a ?substantial number of dollars? in part because relatively few people have a substantial number of dollars to transfer, and not all of them end up in nursing homes. A one-percent savings in Medicaid long-term care expenses would total $27 million in North Carolina, and Stephen Moses with the Center for Long-Term Care Reform has shown that this figure like understates the potential savings to Medicaid.
The proposed rule would not ?force the sale of the needy patient?s home,? as Sea claims. Again, reverse mortgages are a readily available method of financing care with home equity without selling the home itself.
?The anticipated costs for long-term care services in this country threaten the future sustainability of the Medicaid program,? stated the federal Medicaid Commission, an advisory panel. ?Public policy should promote individual responsibility and planning for long-term care needs.? This is exactly what North Carolina?s proposed rule appropriately does.
