December 8, 2008
 | DANCER NURSING HOME/ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY |
Legislation sponsored by Assemblyman Ronald Dancer that requires nursing homes and assisted living residences to provide an informational sheet concerning Medicaid eligibility to certain residents was approved today by the Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee.
“Often private pay senior citizens are informed by prospective facilities that they will have to deplete their savings and assets before they are eligible for a Medicaid bed, but what they aren’t told is they may be forced out of the facility and transferred to another if there is no Medicaid bed available after they have exhausted their funds,” explained Dancer, R-Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean.
“This bill is designed to keep prospective residents and their families from being blindsided at the 11th hour,” he continued. “Before entering a facility, the resident and his or her family members should be made fully aware there is no guarantee of the availability of a Medicaid bed at the time the resident becomes Medicaid-eligible. They should also know up front about the possibility of having to transfer to another facility.”
The bill, A-2334, requires nursing home officials to provide prospective private pay residents with a written information sheet explaining the eligibility requirements for long-term care under the Medicaid program. In the case of assisted living facilities, officials would be required to explain eligibility for participation in a federally approved 1915 (c) Medicaid waiver program that provides assisted living services.
Notification would be required six months prior to the date that the private pay resident is likely to become Medicaid-eligible. Current law requires assisted living facilities to maintain 10 percent of its beds for Medicaid residents.
Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini, R-Monmouth, is also a bill sponsor. State Senator Robert Singer, R- Burlington, Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean, is the sponsor of an identical bill, S-221, which the Senate approved in March. A-2334 now heads to the General Assembly for a vote.
