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Medicaid offices raid deceased homes to recover medical costs

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WASHINGTON (AP) – As Salvatore LoGrande battled cancer and all of the pain that comes with it, his daughters promised to keep him within the white house with the pitched roof that he worked so hard for many years ago.

So Sandy LoGrande thought it was a mistake when, a 12 months after her father’s death, Massachusetts billed her $177,000 for her father’s Medicaid expenses and threatened to sue over his house if she didn’t pay up quickly.

“Home was everything,” LoGrande, 57, told her father.

But the bill and its accompanying threat weren’t a mistake.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services constructing, April 5, 2009, in Washington, DC. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Rather, it was a part of a routine process the federal government requires of each state: recovering money from the estates of deceased individuals who, of their final years, relied on Medicaid, taxpayer-funded medical insurance for the poorest Americans.

An individual’s home is often exempt from qualifying for Medicaid. However, it’s subject to the estate recovery process for people who find themselves 55 or older and used Medicaid to pay for long-term care, similar to a nursing home stay or home health care.

This month, Democratic MP proposed completely abandoning the “cruel” program. Critics say this system collects too little – about 1% – of the greater than $150 billion in Medicaid spends annually for long-term care. They also claim that many states don’t warn individuals who join for Medicaid that their families could face large bills and claims on their estate after their death.

LoGrande says she became involved in a two-year legal dispute with Massachusetts after her father’s death. Just a few years before his death in 2016, she turned to an area nonprofit for advice on caring for her elderly father. The group suggested she enroll him in Medicaid. She even remembers asking a couple of home, but was assured that the state would only search for a house if it sent her father to a nursing home.

“He would never sign a contract for something that would put his home in danger,” she said.

For years, her father received an annual notice of profit renewal from the state’s Medicaid office. She says it wasn’t until after his death, when a state claim for $177,000 got here in, that she saw the primary bill for his care, which included a brief hospital stay for cancer pain, medications and hospice.

“That just blew my guts,” LoGrande said. “It was unfair.”

In 2019, the state reached an agreement with LoGrandes and withdrew its claims on the home.

State policies regarding this recovery process vary greatly, according to the 2021 Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission Reportwhich makes policy recommendations to Congress.

Some states place a lien – a right – on your private home, while others don’t. Meanwhile, some Medicaid offices try to recover all medical costs from patients, similar to doctor visits or prescriptions, while others simply recover long-term care costs. In recent years, Alaska and Arizona have foreclosed on just dozens of properties, while other states are foreclosing on 1000’s of homes price tons of of tens of millions of dollars.

New York and Ohio led the nation in such collections, recovering a complete of over $100 million in a single 12 months, Dayton Daily News investigation found.

Some investigation for the Kansas program, released Tuesday by the Health and Human Services Inspector General, found that this system was profitable – it brought in $37 million and only $5 million was spent recovering the cash. However, the state didn’t all the time collect money from eligible estates.

Last month, a foundation from one among the medical insurance industry’s largest giants called on Massachusetts to change its process for collecting reimbursements for many Medicaid costs, going beyond the federal government’s minimum requirements for recovering long-term care expenses. The Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts has really useful that the state legislature pass a bill that will prohibit such additional collections.

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Wealth recovery “can perpetuate wealth disparities and intergenerational poverty,” said Katherine Howitt, director of Medicaid policy at the muse.

In Tennessee, which recovered greater than $38.2 million from greater than 8,100 estates last 12 months, Imani Mfalme found herself in an identical situation after her mother died in 2021.

As her mother’s early-onset Alzheimer’s disease progressed, Mfalme continued to take care of her. But in 2015, when Mfalme was diagnosed with breast cancer and required a double mastectomy, she began to consider other options. She arranged a gathering at her mother’s house with the local Medicaid office. The representative told her to empty her mother’s bank accounts – money that Mfalme had transferred to her mother as a part of her assisted living payments – in order that her mother would qualify for this system.

She recalls feeling somewhat offended through the meeting when the representative asked her thrice, “This is your mother’s house?” The representative, Mfalme said, failed to mention that after her death, she may be forced to sell the home to settle her mother’s Medicaid bills.

Currently, Tennessee’s Medicaid office says she owes $225,000, and the state is looking for a court order requiring Mfalme to sell the home to repay the debt.

Imani Mfalme poses for a portrait outside her late mother’s home, Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Caitie McMekin)

Mfalme, now 42, said she wants to pay what she will, however the home is a selected problem. Her mother, a black woman, bought her dream home in Knoxville after she won a landmark discrimination lawsuit against her former employer, Boeing, for paying her lower than her colleagues.

“She fought hard for equal pay and equal rights. “Just seeing it torn away just because she was sick and I was sick is just devastating,” Mfalme said of her mother.

TennCare, Tennessee’s Medicaid office, said in an email to the Associated Press that it could not comment on specific cases.

A report by the Commission on Payments and Access to Medicaid and CHIP really useful that Congress repeal a 1993 law that required states to recoup money from estates, as a substitute making it optional.

Earlier this month, Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois reintroduced laws that will have ended the mandate of the federal government. Schakowsky believes the rule is a lose-lose proposition for families who hand over their homes and taxpayers who don’t see much profit from recovery efforts.

“This is one of the most cruel and ineffective programs we see,” Schakowsky told the AP. “It’s a program that doesn’t work for anyone.”

In a deadlocked Congress, with some Republicans calling for limits on Medicaid eligibility, the bill is unlikely to gain the bipartisan support needed to change into law.

There is a minimum of one one who admits this rule doesn’t work: the person who created it.

Many people do not know in regards to the decades-old order, which was intended to encourage people to save for long-term care – otherwise they risk losing the equity of their home, explained Stephen Moses, who now works for the conservative Paragon Health Institute.

“The plan was to provide long-term care options for people who need long-term care, but you have to plan ahead to be able to pay privately so you don’t end up in a public health care program,” Moses said.


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Politics and Current

Monique Worrell, one of two Democratic prosecutors ousted by DeSantis in Florida, gets her old job back

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Monique Worrell, Florida, theGrio.com

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — One of two Democratic state attorneys in Florida who’re Republicans Governor Ron DeSantis removed from office in what opponents said was a political move and won him his old job back from voters.

In the Orlando area, Democrat Monique Worrell on Tuesday defeated Andrew Bain, the candidate DeSantis replaced Worrell with last 12 months and who ran without party affiliation. In the Tampa area, Andrew Warren, who was ousted by DeSantis in 2022, gave approach to Suzy Lopez, a Republican DeSantis selected to exchange a Democrat.

DeSantis said Worrell didn’t prosecute crimes committed by minors and didn’t seek mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes, putting the general public in her Central Florida district in danger. She disputed his claims as false and politically motivated.

Speaking before fans Tuesday night, Worrell dedicated the win to her father, who died unexpectedly last June. “Before he took his last breath, he told me, ‘Go back to your seat,’” she said.

“I want to thank the voters for standing with me and saying, ‘We don’t believe you, Ron DeSantis,’” Worrell said.

DeSantis removed Warren over his signing of the guarantees that it is going to not bring criminal charges against individuals in search of abortion or gender reassignment services or individuals providing abortion or sex reassignment therapy services, and its policy of not prosecuting certain minor offenses.

“I am proud of the race we ran,” Warren said in an announcement Tuesday night. “The best candidate doesn’t always win, especially when the other side cheats by illegally suspending you and then spending millions of dollars lying about you.”

The governor’s office didn’t immediately reply to an emailed inquiry on Wednesday.

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Kamala Harris Delays Address to Supporters at Howard University Due to Narrow Path to Victory – Essence

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(Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Kamala Harris selected not to address her supporters in Washington on Tuesday night after former President Donald Trump secured victories in Georgia and North Carolina, the primary two battleground states within the 2024 presidential race. according to NBC News.

Disappointed supporters at a rally at Howard University heard from Harris’ campaign co-chairman, Cedric Richmond, who announced that Harris wouldn’t speak on election night. “We still need to count the votes. We still have states that haven’t been called,” Richmond said. “You’ll hear from her tomorrow.”

Initially, Harris campaign officials were optimistic about her probabilities, but their confidence wavered because the night wore on and the outcomes got here in. “It’s quite disturbing,” a Democratic lawmaker told NBC News. “I just remember eight years ago, all of the trends in the primary few hours were that Hillary won, after which she didn’t. But obviously it isn’t the comeback we were searching for.”

Harris campaign manager Jennifer O’Malley Dillon assured campaign staff and supporters of a possible path to victory, stating: “While we proceed to see an influx of knowledge from Sun Belt states, we’ve got known all along that our clearest path to 270 electoral votes, according to NBC News falls on the Blue Wall states,” referring to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

She added: “Those of you who were around in 2020 know this well: it takes time to count all of the votes – and all votes shall be counted. This is how our system works. But we all know this race won’t be decided until the early hours of the morning. “

NBC News also reported that Republicans were able to take back the Senate with victories in Democratic-held seats in West Virginia and Ohio. According to NBC’s exit poll, the proportion of voters identifying as Democrats dropped to 32%, the bottom level this century.

Beyond the presidential race, control of the House remained uncertain. With tight margins within the chamber, close races on the West Coast and a potentially slow vote count, it is going to take longer to get a transparent result.

As of this writing, Harris has 194 electoral votes to Trump’s 246. There are five battleground states remaining to be called.

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Elon Musk and Joe Rogan celebrate Trump’s victory

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On November 5, Donald Trump was elected to a second term as President of the United States. His long-term allies and political donors use social media to publicly rejoice.

Billionaire Elon Musk and podcaster Joe Rogan are only among the voices making the celebration loud.

Musk, owner of social media platform X and a staunch MAGA member, wrote to X to specific his optimism for the longer term.

Musk shared the hardships he experienced as an immigrant from South Africa, but believes the alleged difficulties he faced are minimal in comparison with Trump’s.

Joe Rogan, host of the Joe Rogan Podcast, also took to X to specific what could possibly be interpreted as admiration and excitement.

Rogan posted a video of Trump and his family on stage after the election was announced. In the background, Rogan will be heard saying the three words that served because the caption for his post: Wholeness. Leeward. Damn.

It’s no wonder Rogan is happy, as he enthusiastically supported Trump on November 4. The endorsement is available in part as a promotion for his podcast episode, with which he acknowledged “the great and mighty Elon Musk.”

The podcaster found Musk’s reasoning for supporting Trump compelling. To this end, he sat down with the billionaire for 2 and a half hours to speak about skilled matters. Rogan praised Musk and said the praise was tantamount to support for Trump.

“For the record, yes, this is an endorsement of Trump.”

Rogan’s right-wing stance in politics is well documented. During the election season, he met with then-candidate Trump to debate his campaign platform and plans for the country. The podcaster identified himself as a neutral interviewer and stated that he invited Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Harris campaign outlined conditions Rogan wouldn’t comply with an interview with. He believed his platform deserved a three-hour meeting with the candidate and was unwilling to travel to accommodate her schedule.

“For the record, the Harris campaign has not stopped publishing the podcast. They suggested a date for Tuesday, but I might need to travel there and they only wanted an hour. I strongly consider that one of the best approach to do that is in a studio in Austin. I truthfully just wish to have a pleasant conversation and get to know her as an individual. I actually hope we are able to do that,” Rogan wrote, promoting his meeting with Trump.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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