Critics of Medicaid’s long-term services and supports (LTSS) program often complain that it is so poorly designed that lavishes benefits on wealthy retirees and wastes billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Some people do abuse the system. And they should be stopped. But the real problem with Medicaid LTSS is that in many states its benefits are so paltry that [...]
Is Medicaid’s long-term care benefit a zero-sum game where limited resources are shifted from one beneficiary to another? For instance, could the government significantly increase long-term care benefits for some by barring people from using spousal annuities to qualify for Medicaid? Or should resources be expanded to provide all eligible seniors and younger people with disabilities the care they need? [...]
There is a widespread belief that seniors, in cahoots with shady lawyers and greedy children, hide their assets so they can receive Medicaid long-term care benefits. It turns out that this image—sort of the greedy geezer equivalent of Cadillac-driving welfare queens—is largely an urban myth. While some seniors undoubtedly find ways to transfer assets (everyone, it seems, knows someone who has—or [...]