This story is part of a partnership that includes , and Kaiser Health News. It can be republished for free. ()
With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Jerry Brown the estates of Medicaid beneficiaries in California, the San Jose Mercury News reported Friday. The , which the Democratic governor vetoed on Thursday, would have shielded the assets of people who receive Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California, from being recouped by the state after their deaths.
In a to the state senate, Brown advised legislators to consider the issue during the budget process. Brown wrote: “Allowing more estate protection for the next generation may be a worthy policy goal. The cost of this change, however, needs to be considered alongside other worthwhile policy changes in the budget process next year.”
The issue is important to people likeAnne-Louise Vernon, who recently signed up for Medi-Cal under the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of the program. Vernon of Capitol Public Radio that she fears using her new coverage. “I feel so unsettled about this whole estate recovery thing that Im afraid to go to the doctor,” she said.
The law has been on California’s books for two decades, but with the expansion of Medi-Cal it now has the potential to affect many more people.
More from Pauline Bartolone’s story for Kaiser Health News and Capitol Public Radio:
Elizabeth Landsberg of the said it turns what was intended to be a safety net program into a long-term loan program and undermines the security that families might pass on to the next generation.
So in most cases it’s modest family homes that were talking about, and so the state will most often come back and put a lien on that home, and unfortunately it does force the kids to sell the homes sometimes, said Landsberg.
Landsberg said the law is unfair under the Affordable Care Act, because other people buying insurance and getting premium subsidies through Covered California arent subject to the same rules.
For the first time people have to have health coverage. So its created an inequity where the lowest income people could lose their assets, and other higher income people who are also getting publicly-subsidized health coverage have no worries, said Landsberg.
