Georgia Approves Estate Recovery Program To Recoup Medicaid Costs

The Georgia Department of Community Health on Wednesday approved new rules that allow the state to recoup Medicaid costs by targeting the homes and other assets of Medicaid beneficiaries who receive long-term care, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Each year, 39,000 Georgia residents ages 55 and older receive nursing home coverage through Medicaid, at a cost to the state of about $36,000 per beneficiary. Another 15,000 Medicaid beneficiaries receive long-term care through community- or home-based services. Under the new estate recovery program, which will be implemented Aug. 1, Georgia will collect money on homes and other assets after beneficiaries die to recover the costs of their nursing home, or other long-term care -- including hospital and prescription drug costs. The effort aims to recoup spending on long-term care since August 2001. Only estates valued under $25,000 will be exempt from recovery. The state expects to collect $5 million from the estates of Medicaid beneficiaries in the program's first year. Family members of beneficiaries in nursing homes have protested the new rules, saying that beneficiaries were not told their homes were at risk of recovery when they were admitted to the facilities. "The rules are extremely harsh, and they will discourage people from getting care they really need," consumer health advocate Linda Lowe said. State officials said they implemented the program because of budgetary restrictions. "The economy is improving, but I don't think it's improving fast enough," Community Health Commissioner Tim Burgess said. Georgia is one of the last states to implement estate recovery rules, which are required by federal law, but the state said it expects legal challenges to the program in the first two years (Miller, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/15).