Revision: Jan. 21, 2010, midnight
CHAPTER 278
HB 690-FN – FINAL VERSION
04Jan2006… 0002h
04/13/06 1653s
24May2006… 2258eba
2006 SESSION
01/09
HOUSE BILL 690-FN
AN ACT relative to aid to the needy blind, undue hardship for public assistance, and eligibility for and recovery of public assistance.
COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
This bill adds the category of aid to the needy blind to a certain provision of law. This bill clarifies undue hardship for purposes of public assistance.
This bill also clarifies eligibility for assistance procedures regarding annuities and recovery of such assistance regarding certain insurance.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
04Jan2006… 0002h
04/13/06 1653s
24May2006… 2258eba
05-0777
01/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six
AN ACT relative to aid to the needy blind, undue hardship for public assistance, and eligibility for and recovery of public assistance.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
278:1 Condition of Granting Assistance; Aid to Needy Blind Added. Amend RSA 167:28 to read as follows:
167:28 Condition of Granting Assistance. The commissioner of the department of health and human services shall require as a condition to granting old age assistance [or], aid to the permanently and totally disabled, or aid to the needy blind in any case that the applicant, and the spouse of the applicant, if any, residing with the applicant, submit a properly acknowledged agreement to reimburse the federal government, the state and the county for all assistance granted. In such agreement such applicant, and the spouse of the applicant, if any, shall assign as collateral security for such assistance such part of his or her personal property as the commissioner of health and human services shall demand. All funds recovered under the provisions of this section and RSA 167:27, after any necessary reimbursement to the federal government as provided in RSA 167:13, shall be allocated to the county and to the state in the same proportion as the assistance paid by each.
278:2 New Paragraph; Transfers of Assets; Undue Hardship. Amend RSA 167:4 by inserting after paragraph III the following new paragraph:
III-a. Pursuant to section 1917(c)(2)(D) of the federal Social Security Act, a transfer of asset penalty shall not be imposed if the penalty would result in an undue hardship to the transferor under the following conditions:
(a) The asset was transferred by an agent or authorized representative and it can be demonstrated and documented that the individual lacked the mental capacity to comprehend the disqualifying nature of the act; and
(1) A written and signed statement by a licensed physician states that the individual was mentally incapacitated at the time of the transfer; or
(2) An order of findings from a probate court concerning the individual’s competency is provided to the district office.
(b) Application of the penalty would deprive the individual of necessary care such that his or her health or life would be endangered.
278:3 Eligibility for Assistance. Amend RSA 167:4, IV(b) to read as follows:
(b)(1) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary and consistent with section 1917(e) of the Social Security Act as amended by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, (DEFRA), Public Law 190-171, for purposes of Medicaid eligibility, investment in annuities shall be limited to those annuities that:
[(1)] (A) Are actuarially sound as measured against the Social Security Administration Life Expectancy tables as amended;
[(2)] (B) Provide equal or nearly equal payments for the duration of the device and which exclude “balloon” style final payments; and
[(3)] (C) Provide state of New Hampshire secondary or contingent beneficiary status ensuring payment if the individual predeceases the duration of the annuity, in an amount equal to the medicaid expenditure made by the state of New Hampshire on the individual’s behalf.
(2) All such annuities owned by the applicant or the applicant’s spouse shall be disclosed to the department at the time of the application.
278:4 Eligibility for Assistance. RSA 167:4, IV(d) is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
(d) Pursuant to section 1917(b)(1) of the Social Security Act as amended by DEFRA, the commissioner shall submit a state plan amendment establishing a long-term care partnership recognizing the investment in long-term care insurance policies by Medicaid applicants by disregarding resources or assets in an amount equal to the insurance benefit payments that are made to or on behalf of an individual who is a beneficiary under a long-term care insurance policy which meets the criteria described in DEFRA and regulations promulgated thereunder. The estates of recipients of medical assistance for institutional level of care for whom the resource ceiling has been adjusted as described in this subparagraph, shall be exempt from recovery pursuant to RSA 167:13 and RSA 167:14 in an amount equal to the insurance benefit payments received.
278:5 Claims and Liens. Amend RSA 167:14-a, VI to read as follows:
VI. For purposes of recovering the costs of medical assistance, the estate of a recipient shall include all property, real or personal, which at the time of a recipient’s death was held by the recipient in joint tenancy with rights of survivorship, tenancy in common, or life estate[, or living trust], without regard to the date that such title or interest was established. No sooner than 45 days from the death of the recipient, the department shall provide the other joint owner or owners notice of the department’s claim. Within 30 days of the receipt of notification of the department’s claim, the joint owner or owners shall acknowledge receipt of the department’s claim and, provided that there shall not be undue hardship imposed upon the surviving joint owner or owners, either tender an amount equal to the deceased recipient’s interest in the identified property and/or financial instrument to the state of New Hampshire toward the deceased’s medical assistance bill, but such amount shall not exceed the total amount of medical assistance provided to the deceased recipient, or enter into a binding agreement to make such payment as soon as is practicable. If the joint owner or owners refuse to acknowledge receipt of the department’s claim or to tender payment or fail to fulfill the agreement to pay without good cause, as required by this paragraph, the commissioner may bring an action in superior court to compel such payment. Nothing in this paragraph shall be interpreted or applied so as to violate RSA 167:16-a, IV or 42 U.S.C. section 1396p(b)(2)(A) prohibiting recovery when the recipient is survived by a spouse, minor children, or disabled children.
278:6 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved: June 15, 2006
Effective: June 15, 2006