“2020 SSI and Spousal Impoverishment Standards,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

 

Quote:

“Maximum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance: $3,216.00 … Community Spouse Resources [Allowance]: Minimum Resource Standard: $25,728.00 … Maximum Resource Standard $128,640.00 … Home Equity Limits: Minimum: $595,000.00 …  Maximum: $893,000.00.”

 

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):

CMS finally published the 2020 key Medicaid numbers for determining long-term care financial eligibility. We these numbers to our historical record in The Zone soon. There you can see how they have increased with inflation every year since 1991.

Some background:

The Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 solved Medicaid’s “spousal impoverishment” problem by putting a floor under income and assets for community spouses of institutionalized Medicaid recipients.  Upon passage of MCCA ’88, spouses were allowed to retain half the couple’s joint assets up to $60,000. That limit increased with inflation year by year. It is indicated in the table published in The Zone as “CSRA upper limit.” CSRA stands for Community Spouse Resource Allowance. Originally, spouses were allowed to transfer income from the institutionalized spouse to bring their monthly incomes up to a maximum of $1,500. That limit also increases every year with inflation. It is indicated in the table as “Income transfer (Max.).” The Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMMNA) is equal to 1.5 times the poverty level for a couple as published every July. Medicaid eligibility treatment of income and assets is a very complicated subject.  For more details, consult a legal treatise on the subject or ask Steve Moses (if you are a dues-paying member of the Center for Long-Term Care Reform).