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What's Your Question About Nursing Homes?
By Sherry Culp - May, 2009
Question
My friend lives in a nursing home and never seems to have money to buy extra things she wants. I know she is allowed to keep $40 a month from her Social Security check as her personal needs allowance, but that doesn’t go far. She really wants a new TV in her room since the one she brought from home stopped working. Will she receive an economic stimulus check?
Answer
On Feb. 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A provision of this legislation provides a one-time $250 payment to most people who get Social Security, Railroad Retirement Benefits, and Veterans, Disability Compensation or Pension benefits. To receive the one-time payment, individuals must have been eligible for the above-mentioned benefits at the end of 2008 or January 2009. Beneficiaries should receive their payment in May 2009 and no later than June 4, 2009.
Question
Will a nursing home resident receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) get a stimulus check?
Answer
Most people on SSI will get a one-time check, but nursing home residents whose care is paid for by Medicaid and who get a reduced SSI benefit in the form of a $30 personal needs allowance will not get the one-time $250 payment in May.
Question
How will eligible residents get their payment?
Answer
The resident will automatically receive their $250 in the same manner in which they receive their regular Social Security, Railroad Retirement Benefits, and Veterans, Disability Compensation or Pension benefits. No action is required on the part of the resident. The payment will arrive separately from their usual monthly payment. If the payment is usually delivered by direct deposit into a bank account, the one-time payment will be direct deposited. If the beneficiary usually receives his payment by check, the one-time payment will be delivered by check.
Question
My friend’s Social Security check goes straight to the nursing home. Will they take that money from her?
Answer
Absolutely not! In cases where the nursing home or someone else is the representative payee, the facility or other payee may not keep the money as payment to themselves. The money belongs to the resident and is to be used as that person sees fit. The law specifically states: "...the entire payment shall be used only for the benefit of the individual who is entitled to the payment." Your friend should be able to use the one-time payment to purchase that TV she’s been wanting. If a representative payee is inappropriately using the one-time payment, a complaint can be filed with the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General's Fraud Hotline at: 1-800-269-0271. Financial exploitation of a resident must be reported to the KY Adult Abuse Hotline at 1-800-752-6200. Complaints about how a long-term care facility protects, manages, and provides residents access to their personal funds should be reported to your Ombudsman 1-877-787-0077.
Question
Will this one-time payment mess up her Medicaid if she decides to save it for a while?
Answer
If she spends it within 10 months of receiving it, then it will not be counted as an asset. The one-time $250 payment won't count as income for federal, state or local benefits. If a resident chooses to save the money instead of spending it, the amount would also be excluded as a resource in the month it was received and also for the following nine months without being taken into account for purposes of determining eligibility for Medicaid. If not spent by the end of those 10 months, any remaining funds would be counted as an asset. For additional information about how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 one-time payment affects nursing home residents, visit www.ltcombudsman.org or http://www.socialsecurity.gov/payment/ or call 1-800-772-1213.
This column is presented as a public service of the Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency of the Bluegrass. If you have a question, send it to:
Sherry Culp
Nursing Home Ombudsman Agency
1530 Nicholasville Rd.
Lexington, KY, 40503