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2016 Session

Budget Amendments - SB30 (Committee Approved)

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Medicaid Asset Recovery Program (language only)

Item 310 #4s

Item 310 #4s

Health and Human Resources
Department of Medical Assistance Services

Language

Page 276, after line 54, insert:

"K.1. The  Department of Medical Assistance  Services, in collaboration with the Department of Social Services, shall require Medicaid  eligibility workers  to search  for unreported assets at the time of initial eligibility determination and renewal, using all currently  available sources  of electronic data, including local real estate property databases, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and Virginia's asset verification system, for all Medicaid  applicants  and recipients  whose assets are subject to an asset limit under Medicaid  eligibility requirements.

2. The Department of Medical Assistance Services, in collaboration with the Department of Social Services, shall develop a plan for a robust Medicaid estate recovery program in the Commonwealth.  The department shall evaluate all public and private resources and data sources available to proactively identity assets, including but not limited to real estate and financial assets, including those identified during the eligibility determination process and those that may not have been reported, of Medicaid recipients and all methods available to initiate recovery from estates for which the value of the assets is likely to exceed the cost of recovery.  The department shall also include the cost of initiating and operating such a program with options that include developing an in-house program or contracting with a third party vendor to perform some or all of the identification and recovery.  The study shall examine both the cost benefit and legal implications of the various options and also evaluate and propose changes, as may be needed, to the Code of Virginia that may assist in maximizing the recovery of assets of deceased Medicaid beneficiaries.

3. The department shall submit its findings and recommendations for developing a robust estate recovery program to the Governor and the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees by December 1, 2016."



Explanation

(This amendment requires the Department of Medical Assistance Services to develop a plan for a more robust Medicaid estate recovery program and requires that eligibility workers search for unreported assets with currently available data. This amendment is based on recommendations from the JLARC review of Medicaid eligibility determination.)