The Medicaid Estate Recovery Program: A Burden on Families
As Salvatore LoGrande fought cancer and all the pain that came with it, his daughters promised to keep him in the white, pitched roof house he worked so hard to buy all those decades ago. However, a year after his death, Massachusetts billed his daughter, Sandy LoGrande, $177,000 for her father’s Medicaid expenses and threatened to sue for his home if she didn’t pay up quickly.
This situation is not unique to the LoGrande family. The Medicaid Estate Recovery Program, a routine process required by the federal government, aims to recover money from the assets of deceased individuals who relied on Medicaid for long-term care expenses. While a person’s home is typically exempt from qualifying for Medicaid, it is subject to the estate recovery process for those who used Medicaid for long-term care.
Critics argue that the program is flawed, collecting only about 1% of the more than $150 billion Medicaid spends yearly on long-term care. Many states also fail to adequately inform individuals signing up for Medicaid about the potential bills and claims to their property that may await their families after their death.
For families like the LoGrandes and Imani Mfalme, who is facing a similar predicament in Tennessee after her mother’s death, the burden of paying back Medicaid expenses can be devastating. Mfalme, whose mother fought for equal pay and rights, now faces a $225,000 bill from Tennessee’s Medicaid office and the threat of losing her mother’s dream home.
Calls for reforming the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program have been growing, with Democratic lawmaker Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois reintroducing legislation to end the federal government’s mandate on estate recovery. However, in a gridlocked Congress, the bill faces an uphill battle to become law.
As families continue to grapple with the financial implications of the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program, it is clear that changes are needed to alleviate the burden on those already dealing with the loss of a loved one.
