Legislature Asked To Raise Asset Level for Medicaid Spouses

Allowing the spouse of a person in a nursing home to keep enough money to live on independently is, in many ways, a moral issue. But in a tight budget year in Connecticut, it’s a fiscal issue. A proposal that would increase the minimum assets that a spouse living in the community can keep — from $23,844 to $50,000 – in order for his or her partner to be eligible for Medicaid nursing home care is being backed by elder advocates, who say the increase would help seniors, especially women, remain able to live independently. But the move is being opposed by the Department of Social Services on the grounds it will shift millions in costs to the state-funded Medicaid program. The proposal would affect couples with combined assets of between $23,844 and $100,000.