SB 5730-S - DIGEST

(DIGEST OF PROPOSED 1ST SUBSTITUTE)

Declares an intent that eligibility for medical assistance, for the provision of long-term care services, be limited to people who do not have the ability to pay for the care they need. It is also the intent of the legislature to establish a process for offering information and referral to private sector financing mechanisms that will allow people to draw upon their fixed assets to finance their long-term care service needs.

Declares that by taking these measures, eligibility for the medical assistance program will be reserved for the people in greatest financial need, and that we will be better able to afford to provide good quality care to those who are eligible.

Directs the department to establish an information and referral process, for people seeking medical assistance for long-term care services who appear to have sufficient assets in the form of a home, to financial institutions that can arrange a home equity conversion mortgage designed by the United States department of housing and urban development and insured by the federal housing administration. The decision to act on the referral is entirely voluntary on the part of the applicant.