Elder Law and the Affordable Care Act

As I previously discussed, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act this past week. The Supreme Court’s ruling has ensured that the extensions made to Medicaid were upheld. These include provisions that would provide protections to elderly citizens who are seeking long-term care. In addition, the Court upheld provisions of the health care law that would close the “doughnut hole” provision of Medicare Part D, and provide incentives to the states to keep their elderly citizens who need long-term care out of the institutions.

While the Court upheld those provisions that would help the elderly, it also reduced provisions that would have provided access to Medicaid to individuals who are near-elderly. More specifically, the Court gave the states the ability to opt out of the provision of the health care law. Previously, the law was designed to put a state’s Medicaid funding at risk of being reduced if the state chose to opt out of some of the Medicaid provisions. This would suggest that those whose income is too low to be eligible for federal subsidies and were suppose to be covered by the extension in Medicaid will not have access to health care as originally envisioned.

See Supreme Court Ruling: Big Victor for Elderly, Less So for Near-Elderly, ElderLaw Answers, July 2, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.