PA Bar Legislative Alert: Expansion of PA Medical Assistance Estate Recovery Program

The following is a legislative e-alert from the PA Bar Association:

On April 28, 2009, Representative Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia) introduced House Bill 1351 as part of the Governor’s proposed 2009-10 budget for Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Welfare (“DPW”). The bill is currently in the House Health and Human Services Committee. Section 1412 of HB 1351 expands Pennsylvania’s Medical Assistance Estate Recovery Program (“MAER”) to include the non-probate assets of a Medicaid recipient. This legislation will allow DPW to impose administrative liens against interests created by joint tenancy, tenancy by entireties, tenancy in common, survivorship, life estate, living trust or other arrangements.The Pennsylvania Bar Association adamantly opposes this section of HB 1351 and any similar legislation being negotiated as part of the 2009-10 state budget as bad public policy and harmful to the Commonwealth’s already vulnerable senior citizen population.The issues contained in HB 1351 will undoubtedly play a role in the 2009-10 state budget negotiations in the legislature. Any attempt to expand MAER will create significant complications for estate administration and cause major title and conveyancing problems, deter individuals from serving as executors and trustees and lawyers from representing these fiduciaries, discourage older Pennsylvanians from seeking needed long-term care support services out of fear of new liens asserted by the Commonwealth.

Please contact your legislators immediately and ask them to oppose section 1412 of HB 1351 and any similar attempts to expand estate recovery.The PBA Legislative Department has made it easy for you to do this - go to the PBA's Legislative Action Center (here) and click on “Read More” for talking points and additional information on the proposed expansion of MAER. Once there, you will find an easy step-by-step process to compose and send an email message to your legislators or download letters for mailing. For more information about your legislators, please visit the Pennsylvania General Assembly's web site www.legis.state.pa.us. If you have any questions or comments regarding this issue, we would like to hear from you. Please email us at legislative@pabar.org. Thank you.

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