Efforts to Eliminate Medicaid Estate Recovery Gaining Traction

From Justice in Aging

Earlier this month, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the Stop Unfair Medicaid Recoveries Act (H.R. 7573), which would repeal the federal requirement that states establish estate recovery programs to recoup Medicaid costs from family members of deceased individuals who received nursing facility or home-based care. Recent stories in the New York Times and Associated Press illustrate how estate recovery often forces heirs to sell a family home that otherwise would have been passed down. Because home ownership is one of the few ways to build generational wealth, estate recovery disproportionately harms families and communities of color. Justice in Aging strongly supports the bill and its aim to rid Medicaid of this unjust policy that perpetuates poverty and inequality. 

Learn more about the policy in our issue brief,  Medicaid Estate Claims: Perpetuating Poverty & Inequality for a Minimal Return, and about the Stop Unfair Medicaid Recoveries Act in our statement