Pennsylvania Distancing Itself From Previous Medicaid Ruling

Pennsylvania recently ruled that if a community spouse sells his or her home, the institutionalized spouse must report the entire value of the home as a counted resource even if the community spouse’s name is the only name on the title. This rule was issued as a policy clarification in June 2011 and conflicts with the federal law that prohibits states from attributing to an institutionalized spouse the community spouse’s resources once the institutionalized spouse qualifies for Mediciad.

Pennsylvania officials have now distanced themselves from this ruling by settling a recent case that challenged the ruling. In DeMarco v. Alexander, the state settled with an institutionalized wife after she sued the state in federal court for discontinuing her Medicaid. The state discontinued the Meidcaid after the wife’s husband sold his community home and transferred the assets into an account bearing only his name. The state signed a settlement stipulation, agreeing the sale proceeds belonged entirely to the husband and had no effect on the wife’s eligibility for Medicaid.

See Pennsylvannia Backs Off Community Spouse Home Sales Rule, ElderLawAnswers, Jan. 20, 2012.