“State considers end to ‘spousal refusal’ to pay for nursing home care,” by Michael Gormley”

State considers end to ‘spousal refusal’ to pay for nursing home care,” by Michael Gormley, Newsday

 

Quote:

“New York is considering ending a practice that allows one spouse to legally refuse to pay for nursing home care for the other — while passing the bill to Medicaid. … New York and Florida are the only states that allow the practice. But this year, the state Medicaid Redesign Team is considering whether to scrap the decades-old practice, said state budget spokesman Freeman Klopett. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo appointed the group of health care leaders to cut $2.5 billion from Medicaid, a federal and state health care system.”

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

Well, it’s about time. We recommended ending “spousal refusal” in our report:  Long-Term Care Financing in New York:  The Consequences of Denial (2011). As fiscal reality settles in all around the country, other states and eventually the federal government, will join New York in adopting the recommendations we’ve made in dozens of state-level and national reports designed to save Medicaid for the needy and redirect the middle class and affluent to more responsible means of long-term care planning.