“What Albany did to seniors when we weren’t looking,” by Sanford R. Altman, Times Herald-Record

 

Quote:

“For the first time ever, Community (Homecare) Medicaid will have its own look back period. That’s 30 months of financials to submit even if it may only cover a few hours of homecare a day.  And if it takes months for approval instead of the weeks it formerly took, you will not get care from any private homecare agency while you are waiting. You will be on your own for as long as it takes.”

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

New York State Medicaid scammed the rest of the country for decades by paying for full-time home care without imposing a transfer of assets restriction. That meant New Yorkers could divest everything, receive free home care for as long as needed, get Medicaid nursing home care with that much less time on the 5-year asset transfer clock, and send the bill to the federal government and to federal taxpayers from other, less generous, states. Impending state bankruptcy impelled Governor Cuomo to close that loophole when gains from robbing the feds and other states were insufficient to cover costs of the huge homecare giveaway.