HLS 21RS-3858 ORIGINAL
2021 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 185
BY REPRESENTATIVE CREWS
MEDICAID: Authorizes and directs the La. Department of Health to report to certain
legislative committees data relating to Medicaid estate recovery cases
1 A RESOLUTION
2To authorize and direct the Louisiana Department of Health to report certain data relating
3 to Medicaid estate recovery cases to the House Committee on Appropriations and the
4 House Committee on Health and Welfare.
5 WHEREAS, Medicaid is the largest source of funding for institutional long-term care
6in this state and in the nation; and
7 WHEREAS, many persons who need long-term care may qualify for Medicaid
8assistance despite owning assets such as a home; and
9 WHEREAS, federal Medicaid law requires states to establish estate recovery
10programs in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 1396p for recovering benefits paid through Medicaid
11for any person's institutional long-term care after the death of that person; and
12 WHEREAS, Louisiana law, R.S. 46:153.4, requires the Louisiana Department of
13Health to establish an estate recovery program in compliance with federal Medicaid law for
14the purpose of recovering Medicaid payments made on behalf of individuals from their
15succession estates; and
16 WHEREAS, this state's Medicaid estate recovery law prohibits recovery on the first
17fifteen thousand dollars or one-half the median value of the homestead in each parish,
18whichever is higher, making our estate recovery program one of the most generous in the
19nation; and
20 WHEREAS, on average, over the past decade, the Louisiana Department of Health
21has collected through Medicaid estate recovery less than five hundred thousand dollars
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HR NO. 185
1annually; this figure represents a small fraction of the monies that the state is authorized by
2law to recover for benefits paid through its Medicaid-financed institutional long-term care
3program which now expends over one billion dollars annually for nursing home care for over
4twenty thousand Louisiana citizens; and
5 WHEREAS, it is essential for the legislature to obtain key data relating to Medicaid
6estate recovery in order to inform changes in public policy to enhance the effectiveness of
7this program.
8 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
9Legislature of Louisiana does hereby authorize and direct the Louisiana Department of
10Health to report to the House Committee on Appropriations and the House Committee on
11Health and Welfare, on or before March 1, 2022, all of the data and information specified
12hereafter in this Resolution.
13 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Louisiana Department of Health shall report
14to the legislative committees designated in this Resolution all of the following data and
15information relating to each Medicaid enrollee who died in calendar year 2016, 2017, 2018,
162019, or 2020 and whose succession estate was subject to the estate recovery program
17provided for in R.S. 46:153.4:
18 (1) The total cost to the Louisiana Medicaid program of the long-term care that the
19decedent received.
20 (2) The value of the decedent's succession estate.
21 (3) The maximum dollar amount that the department is authorized to recover from
22the decedent's succession estate.
23 (4) Whether or not the department opened a Medicaid estate recovery case to recover
24from the decedent's estate.
25 (5) If the department pursued recovery from the decedent's estate, all of the
26following information:
27 (a) The amount recovered.
28 (b) The exemptions granted in connection with the estate recovery case, if any, and
29the total dollar value of those exemptions.
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HR NO. 185
1 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in addition to reporting the individual-level case
2data required by the preceding section of this Resolution, the Louisiana Department of
3Health shall aggregate all such data into quintiles by total cost to the Louisiana Medicaid
4program of the long-term care that decedents received and shall report to the legislative
5committees designated herein all of the following data associated with each quintile:
6 (1) The total cost to the Louisiana Medicaid program of the long-term care that the
7cohort of decedents in the quintile received.
8 (2) The maximum dollar amount that the department is authorized to recover from
9the succession estates, collectively, of the cohort of decedents in the quintile.
10 (3) The total dollar amount recovered by the Medicaid estate recovery program from
11the succession estates of the cohort of decedents in the quintile.
12 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Louisiana Department of Health shall ensure
13that all individual-level case data required by this Resolution is de-identified prior to
14reporting the data to the legislative committees designated herein.
15 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
16secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HR 185 Original 2021 Regular Session Crews
Authorizes and directs the La. Department of Health to report certain data relating to
Medicaid estate recovery cases to the House Committee on Appropriations and the House
Committee on Health and Welfare on or before March 1, 2022.
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