Rep. Melissa Sargent: Law to seize assets cheats Wisconsin seniors

[hue]

http://m.host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/rep-melissa-sargent-law-to-seize-assets-cheats-wisconsin-seniors/article_ace497e3-d7c2-5e61-9c92-14ab985ed0a4.html

September 24, 2013 4:45 am • MELISSA SARGENT | Democratic member of Assembly from Madison

A long-married, loving couple who live on their fourth-generation family farm has just learned some terrible news — the husband has a terminal illness and must go into long-term care, supplemented by Medicaid. While this family has paid taxes all their lives to help fund Medicaid, they must make a difficult decision. Should the husband and wife get divorced, so that the state of Wisconsin cannot seize their farm after the husband passes away? Yes, this is the reality in Wisconsin since a provision was snuck into the state budget at 3 a.m. with no public testimony.

Gov. Scott Walker’s administration along with his Republican allies in the Legislature got the green light Sept. 18 to allow the state to seize a deceased couples’ joint property to recoup Medicaid expenses.

In other words, if you are a senior citizen receiving Medicaid assistance and you pass away, your living spouse could lose assets that you owned together. In many cases, married couples share ownership over property, real estate, and even businesses. Increasing the state’s ability to take these resources from elderly citizens is simply wrong.

Before Republicans changed the law, the home, vehicle or business of a spouse of a person receiving Medicaid was generally not subject to recovery by the state.

The vast majority of these situations are people who played by the rules and then had something bad happen to them at the end of their lives. We are double-taxing people who by circumstances out of their control ended up in long-term care.

While federal law does require each state to have an estate recovery program to reclaim Medicaid money spent on long-term care, the GOP has decided to triple down on this to earn revenue for the state on the backs of our senior citizens.

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Here's a perfect example of the underhanded, deliberate Re/Tea Party efforts to lie & cheat hard working honest Americans!!

[Orsino]

1. Unfamily values. n/t

[TheMastersNemesis]

2. Gingrich Supported A Plan In 1994 Budget That Would Have Allowed Seizure Of Children's Assets

You posted the real reason why the GOP is so much against Medicaid. The GOP wanted to end Medicaid and send it to the states by removing the "federal mandate". Such removal would have allowed the states to do what Wisconsin is doing. But the states could go farther and file liens against the "living children" to collect thereby making their homes and property vulnerable.

This idea is still in the GOP plan and I am sure Ryan would support it. The real reason the GOP is mad about the Medicaid part of PPACA is that they cannot devolve Medicaid to the states. In fact they want all federal domestic programs sent to the states to be voluntary. Or give the states the money for those programs and let them run them locally with 50 different laws.

[hue]

3. I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen in other GOP controlled states like NC, Idaho, Kansas etc

[NutmegYankee]

4. Not sure if there is a legal basis for such an act.

The law treats adult children with separate finances as a third party.

[TheMastersNemesis]

9. The Federal Mandate In The Medicaid Law Stops States From Attaching The Assets Of Offspring.

Here is an example from my own family before Medicaid or Medicare was passed. My grandmother went into a nursing home before Medicaid. Here is what happened. My mother was living in Missouri so the state of Illinois could not assess her. Her three sisters living in Illinois were assessed a fee based on their family income to be paid to the state of Illinois for reimbursement for nursing home expenses. That meant that they had to turn in their record of earnings so the state could determine how much each month they would pay toward her care. It was a legal liability just like any other bill.

The federal mandate says you cannot attach or assess fees to the children of the family member receiving Medicaid assistance. Now after the person has died the person's estate can be sold and the money given to the state under present law. The GOP severely tightened up "sign over" statutes that makes it pretty much impossible to preserve the estate. Also any lawyer who assists in "sign overs" is subject to prosecution and disbarment.

[NutmegYankee]

11. I doubt such a law would survive a modern court.

Honestly. It's well established that unless I had joint accounts, property I separately purchased on my own are not linked to family. I just don't see that type of law succeeding in modern day.

[TheMastersNemesis]

12. It All Comes Down To The Federal Mandate. Remove That And All Bets Are Off.

We also have very RW courts nationally.

[Sunlei]

5. State of Texas did that with my Mom & Dads home.

Sisters living there now and we kids all paid off the mortgage. Can't take it through probate to change title or sell the home. There is a lien on the title for a huge chunk of cash. It's a small home so to hell with the state our family will keep it, live in it or rent it. forever

[Scuba]

6. Hey, the Koch brothers need a tax break, and Squatty needs to make it up somewhere.

[Sunlei]

7. "sell it to your kids now" or sell to someone who lets you live there rest of your lives.

no strings attached but make it very legal, not one of those reverse mortgage scams.

[TheMastersNemesis]

10. Almost Impossible Now GOP Changed The Federal Law To Make It Impossible.

They changed the "look back" period from 3 years to 5 years and added other obstacles that makes is almost impossible to sign over. Plus signed over property can be "clawed back" from what I understand.

[Sunlei]

13. parents take care of this issue now and hopefully live many more than 5 years :)

[hue]

8. This is 1 of many ways the GOP is divesting the federal gov. according to ALEC agenda.