“What You Need to Know About Medicaid’s Personal Needs Allowance,” ElderLawAnswers


Quote:

“Seniors who rely on Medicaid and live in nursing homes receive a personal needs allowance — a monthly stipend the Medicaid recipient can use to pay for needs that Medicaid does not cover. Medicaid restricts the amount of the allowance and how it is used. If recipients do not use all the money they received in a month, they may risk losing their coverage.”

 

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

Generous government grants Medicaid recipients a monthly allowance? Hardly. Medicaid takes all recipients’ income while only letting them keep a tiny stipend, which if they don’t spend it could cast them off the program. Medicaid’s perverse incentives cause many to end up on the program who could, should and would have avoided it in their absence. Once on, they’re further degraded in this way.