General Assembly Raised Bill No. 973
January Session, 2011 LCO No. 2881
*02881_______AGE*
Referred to Committee on Aging
Introduced by:
(AGE)
General Assembly
Raised Bill No. 973
January Session, 2011
LCO No. 2881
*02881_______AGE*
Referred to Committee on Aging
Introduced by:
(AGE)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE DETERMINATION OF UNDUE HARDSHIP FOR PURPOSES OF MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 17b-261a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011):
(a) (1) Any transfer or assignment of assets resulting in the imposition of a penalty period shall be presumed to be made with the intent, on the part of the transferor or the transferee, to enable the transferor to obtain or maintain eligibility for medical assistance. This presumption may be rebutted only by clear and convincing evidence that the transferor's eligibility or potential eligibility for medical assistance was not a basis for the transfer or assignment.
(2) If the Department of Social Services intends to impose a penalty period as a result of a transfer or assignment of assets, the department shall provide a preliminary notice to the applicant for or recipient of medical assistance under section 17b-261. Such notice shall include a statement that the applicant or recipient can rebut the presumption resulting in the imposition of a penalty period pursuant to subdivision (1) of this subsection or claim undue hardship pursuant to subsection (c) of this section. The applicant or recipient shall make such rebuttal or claim undue hardship not later than fifteen days after the date on which the preliminary notice is postmarked. The department shall grant a thirty-day extension of time to make such rebuttal or claim undue hardship if requested by the applicant or recipient and may grant additional extensions of time if reasonable. Failure to claim undue hardship under this subdivision does not prohibit an applicant or recipient from making a claim of undue hardship at an administrative hearing.
(b) Any transfer or assignment of assets resulting in the establishment or imposition of a penalty period shall create a debt, as defined in section 36a-645, that shall be due and owing by the transferor or transferee to the Department of Social Services in an amount equal to the amount of the medical assistance provided to or on behalf of the transferor on or after the date of the transfer of assets, but said amount shall not exceed the fair market value of the assets at the time of transfer. The Commissioner of Social Services, the Commissioner of Administrative Services and the Attorney General shall have the power or authority to seek administrative, legal or equitable relief as provided by other statutes or by common law.
(c) (1) (A) The Commissioner of Social Services shall waive the imposition of a penalty period if such imposition would create an undue hardship.
(B) For purposes of this subsection, "undue hardship" exists when (i) the life of a transferor would be endangered by the deprivation of medical care, or the transferor would be deprived of food, clothing, shelter or other necessities of life, (ii) the transferor is otherwise eligible for medical assistance under section 17b-261 but for the imposition of the penalty period, (iii) if the transferor is receiving medical assistance at the time of the imposition of a penalty period, the provider of medical assistance has notified the transferor that such provider intends to discontinue providing medical assistance to the transferor because of nonpayment, and (iv) no other person or organization is willing and able to provide medical assistance to the transferor.
(2) The Commissioner of Social Services may waive the imposition of a penalty period when the transferor (1) in accordance with the provisions of section 3025.25 of the department's Uniform Policy Manual, suffers from dementia at the time of application for medical assistance and cannot explain transfers that would otherwise result in the imposition of a penalty period; or (2) suffered from dementia at the time of the transfer; or (3) was exploited into making such a transfer due to dementia. Waiver of the imposition of a penalty period does not prohibit the establishment of a debt in accordance with subsection (b) of this section.
(d) The Commissioner of Social Services, pursuant to section 17b-10, shall implement the policies and procedures necessary to carry out the provisions of this section while in the process of adopting such policies and procedures in regulation form, provided notice of intent to adopt regulations is published in the Connecticut Law Journal not later than twenty days after implementation. Such policies and procedures shall be valid until the time final regulations are effective.
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2011 17b-261a
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1
July 1, 2011
17b-261a
Statement of Purpose:
To provide guidelines and standards for the Department of Social Services' determination of undue hardship for purposes of Medicaid eligibility.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]