The concern arises from a long-standing but little-known aspect of Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health coverage to millions of low-income Americans. In certain cases, a state can recoup its medical costs by putting a claim on a deceased person’s assets.
◼ #Obamacare’s expanded Medicaid asset seizure bonanza - Moe Lane/Red State
Hey, you had to pass the act to find out what was in it...
Basically, the problem is that the Democrats, in their infinite wisdom, decided to drastically expand the Medicaid rolls without considering the consequences – one of which being, state governments have been long in the habit of trying to get at the remnants of Medicaid recipients’ estates in order to cut costs. That’s arguably* not even an entirely horrible policy – ‘free’ health care is never free – but the problem is that policies created to handle the situation of, say, an 85 year old woman with mild dementia and no relatives are now going to be applied to, say, two reasonably healthy retirees in their early sixties.
◼ Fine print: State can seize your assets to pay for care after you’re forced into Medicaid by Obamacare - Mary Katharine Ham/HotAir
◼ This Daily Kos diarist has a nice write-up (I know) on the toll this could take on lower and middle-class people looking for relief and getting what amounts to a surprise predatory loan instead...Medicaid Estate Recovery + ACA: Unintended Consequences?
...if you go on Medicaid, you owe the entire amount that Medicaid spends on you from the day you turn 55.The fact that this is being treated with seriousness at Kos is an indication of how large a liability it could be for this government program. Washington is scrambling to change the law. No doubt other states will start looking at their implementation of this part of Obamacare. But there will be people caught unaware that their houses effectively belong to the government because the government forced them into Medicaid coverage. You’re welcome!
