Families lose their homes to TennCare

[MonteSano]

To foot the bill for Mary and Lawrence Henkel's nursing home care, her children sold everything their parents owned except for the Donelson home the couple had lived in since 1967.

"That was my father's dying wish — to hold onto the house, live in it, take care of it," said Nashville resident Judy Clifford, 66, one of three Henkel children. "That's what he told me, and he gave the house to me."

Now TennCare wants to sell the home to help recoup the roughly $288,000 that the state says it paid to take care of Mary Henkel in the nursing home before she died in February 2003 at the age of 81. Her husband had passed away years earlier.

The Henkel children, who value the home at $110,000, aren't alone. They're among families across the state being asked to give up the family home as TennCare redoubles its efforts to recoup some of the roughly $1 billion a year that the state pays for nursing home and other long-term care.

State officials say they're merely doing what is required by the federal government. And they point out that Tennessee isn't nearly as aggressive as some other states in recouping the money spent on long-term care.

"We're talking about a very emotional time in someone's life or in the family situation, and of course it's something that we wouldn't be unsympathetic to," said Marilyn Wilson, a spokeswoman for TennCare. "If we are going to provide Medicaid coverage, we must actively engage in estate recovery efforts."



http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061023/NEWS0204/610230360

[NashVegas]

1. This Is Not That Surprising

Similar to Medicare.

[SharonAnn]

2. Fair is fair. They could've sold the house to pay for her care when

she was alive. Or the children could've paid for her care. Or the state could've required the house be sold while she was still alive.

The deal is that the government won't require that a person sell their home in order to pay for nursing home care. In return, the home is "collateral" for what is spent on their care. Her estate owes the state for the cost of her care and it looks like even the sale of the home won't cover but 1/3 of it.

Why should the taxpayer pay for a person's care but allow them to keep their assets?

Sounds to me like the way Republicans think. What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine.

[Pithlet]

3. No. The Republican way to think

is "To hell with the middle class". Taking away the family home from people who've worked hard their entire lives and contributed to society because they required nursing home care is not exactly a progressive ideal. No, I don't think living to old age and requiring nursing care should mean you don't get to keep or pass on the family home, and it wouldn't have to mean that if the Federal government wouldn't gut its funding to states to pay for needless wars, and leave the states holding the bag. This wouldn't be happening if programs like TennCare weren't being gutted to begin with. Stories like the above in the OP are a shame.

As a progressive, I certainly don't mind my tax dollars going to thinks like nursing home care for our citizens so we and our families aren't bankrupted by nursing care, and I'm certainly not going to require that they lose everything to pay it back. Not anymore than, say, expecting children who attended public schools to pay back the government when they grow up and get a job. Taxes are an investment in society. An educated citizenry, and a citizenry who is taken care of in their old age are two things that benefit society greatly, and I don't mind paying for either, nor do I think that the only possible return on those investments is monetary. If TennCare were properly funded, they wouldn't have to go after people's homes.

[SharonAnn]

4. Yours is the Republican way to think. Socialize the cost, privatize the profit

Let others pay for you but you keep everything you want. No personal responsibility.

She had a house she could have sold to pay for her care. She and her family chose not to do that, but let others pay for her care. It was their choice.

We are not responsible for paying everything for people who can take care of themselves. She had what she needed to take care of herself.

Guess she should've been denied care until she'd sold the house and spent all her assets?

Remember, they're her assets, not her childrens. If they wanted the assets, they should've paid for her care.

Republicans are the greedy ones. Guess these people are republicans.

[Pithlet]

5. LOL

Yes, those Repubs are famous for wanting to socialize everything! :rofl:

Okay, but seriously now. Do you honestly think it's greedy to want to keep your own home, whether for yourself or your family? Honestly? And, do you really think that the average middle class person can afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars that nursing care often runs to with no problems? That if they don't plan for such a gigantic financial burden, it's their fault? If you do, that's fine. I think you're about as absolutely wrong as a person can possibly be, but that doesn't necessarily make you Republican. That viewpoint, however, is certainly not a very Democratic or progressive one, and opposing it doesn't mean someone thinks like a Republican, for sure.

If you're one of the fortunate few who's never benefited from a single tax dollar, then maybe you are in a good position to point to others and demand that they pay every penny back at all costs to them and their family. Won't earn you many empathy or compassion points, but it would make such a stance more understandable.

[NashVegas]

6. It's Abusing the Reason Those Programs Were Created

First, it does not help matters at all that health care costs are spiraling. Something needs to be done about that.

TennCare and programs like it exist for people who don't have the assets to pay for medical care, or can't get insurance to pay for it.

They do not exist to help people hang onto what assets they do own and pass them down to their heirs.

[Pithlet]

9. I know what TennCare is for.

I still think it's a shame that we can't protect our working and middle class citizens without bleeding them absolutely dry for it. My rant wasn't just aimed at TennCare, but generally at the idea that people like the ones in the story above are greedy freeloaders. I don't think what is going on is an attempt to abuse the system. I don't think TennCare is suffering because of people like them. I think TennCare has all been all but budget slashed to death (Thanks, Bredesen), and they're doing whatever they can to stay afloat. I don't fault them for that. My whole point is it shouldn't have to be that way. I think if your income is below a set amount, you should get that help, and not have to lose everything you own to get it.

But, the post you responded to was mostly countering the notion that my viewpoint, whether agreed with or not, is Republican, as someone else in this thread seems to think. I do find that kind of funny.

[SharonAnn]

7. They want to socialize the COSTS, but privatize the PROFITS

Of course I'd like to keep my home and my retirement accounts and my savings and my personal property and my car, and have other people pay what I owe, but I'm responsible. And I'm a Democrat, I believe we are supposed to pay our bills.

[Pithlet]

8. I KNOW what being a Republican is ABOUT.

I don't think programs that benefit the poor and middle class should have to bankrupt them and strip them of every asset the worked for all their life, before or after death. I don't think that MAKES me a REPUBLICAN. What would we do with out CAPS to drive our POINT home? I sure don't want to find OUT.

I do understand that the way they are funded makes them resort to that. My point is it shouldn't have to be that way. I think we could support a solid middle class if our priorities are budgeted right.

I'm a Democrat, too. But, I know that people who disagree with me can still possibly be Democrats. Hint: opposing viewpoints aren't automatically Republican. Trust me. There is nothing Republican in my stance on this issue.

[NashVegas]

10. I Guess It's a Matter of "Is (Free) Health Care a Human Right?"

Access to health care, absolutely.

In some countries, free health care is thought of as a right, but it's paid for by higher taxes on all. I have a Danish friend who gives up almost half of his income in taxes, but receives a LOT in government services.

The majority of Americans don't want that kind of system. Granted, we've never known anything else. But until we have the type of government that can impose this kind of decision, rather than a democracy, chances are we won't be switching anytime soon.

Instead, something has got to be done about the way health care costs have gone through the roof and put a halt to it, reverse it if possible. Because if it's not, even socialized medicine is going to break the fucking bank.