Reparations payments received by Holocaust survivors are exempt from consideration under the federal Medicaid and SSI laws. According to the SSI regulations at 20 CFR 416.1236 (a)(18) – “reparations are excluded” from the definitions of “resources.” The SSI POMS SI 01120.610 says that reparations are not includable as either resources or income. There is an established principle that the State’s interpretation within its Medicaid program cannot be more restrictive than SSI if the result is to deny eligibility –this is called “comparability.” 42 U.S.C. § 1396a(A)(10)(C)(i).
However, assets that are excluded during the lifetime of a Medicaid recipient may be subject to estate recovery by the State after the Medicaid recipient dies — meaning that the estate has to reimburse the State for the dollars it spent on the Medicaid recipient before the estate’s executor can distribute any remaining assets to the heirs. (This can occur if the Medicaid recipient owned a house that was on the market but still unsold at time of death, for example.)
A-1041 (Schaer) would bar Medicaid estate recovery against reparation monies that are in the estate of a deceased Medicaid recipient. http://legiscan.com/NJ/text/A1041/id/925637
If this issue is of interest to you, contact your legislators.
Call us for advice on preserving reparations funds and obtaining Medicaid eligibility … 732-382-6070