FYI all,
At the present time and for a few DECADES. We have had MEDICAID paid Nursing homes. This is 'custodial care' not acute care. Nursing Homes do not have a Doctor on staff. Only on call. For MEDICAID to pay for one's nursing care, one must pay the charges until one spends themselves down to poverty level. The Gov. must have access to all financial accounts NOW. The patient cannot transfer funds out of their name to "achieve" poverty. The Gov can 'look back' and reclaim those funds. Some try to get around the requirement by transferring funds to their children while still healthy. Some problems with that are, The transfer must be complete permanent and without strings. If the patient can recover the funds, so can the Gov. Who does that while healthy? Long Term Care insurance is less risky. Many have transfered a few millions to a son only to find that the son's marriage was not all that great. As soon as the transfer is done, she files for divorce and takes HALF [the large half
] of the new-found windfall!
There are nursing homes that will take MEDICAID payments and those that will not. In both cases, all financials must be disclosed. The homes that will not take MEDICAID cannot turn out the patient once they run out of money, so they make sure the money is there BEFORE taking the patient.
Not surprising, they have a larger and better paid staff the the MEDICAID reimbursed homes which receive much less from the Gov.
So not a lot that is way different than much that has existed for years. But isn't the present system what is supposed to be reformed?