Scott Walker’s biennial budget includes “death tax” targeting Medicaid recipients [View all]

[Scuba]

Walker continues to punish the poor. His base loves red meat.


http://bloggingblue.com/2013/08/19/scott-walkers-biennial-budget-includes-death-tax-targeting-medicaid-recipients/

Among the little-known provisions of the biennial state budget proposed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker and rubber-stamped by Republicans in the Legislature is a provision buried in the budget that would drastically expand the state’s ability to claim dead couples’ joint property – even if the assets are protected in trusts.

The language is designed to help the state recover Medicaid money spent on a number of long-term care programs, most notably Family Care, which helps keep disabled and elderly people out of costly nursing homes.

[...]

Federal rules also prohibit people from divesting or giving away property to make themselves poor enough to qualify for a long-term Medicaid program. However, the regulations allow applicants to transfer some assets, such as interest in a business, at less than market value without penalty.

The Wisconsin budget eliminates that exemption, which means a Wisconsin resident seeking Medicaid coverage for long-term care would have to sell his or her assets, such as a share of a family business or farmland, for full market value even if it was going to a child.