LTC Bullet: GAO on TOA Underwhelms
Wednesday,
October 5, 2005
Washington,
DC--
LTC
Comment: The Government
Accountability Office's new report on Medicaid asset transfers asks the wrong
questions, uses the wrong data, and so provides few helpful answers. More after the ***news.*** [omitted]
LTC
BULLET: GAO ON TOA UNDERWHELMS
LTC
Comment: The Government
Accountability Office's "letter report" titled "Medicaid:
Transfers of Assets by Elderly Individuals to Obtain Long-Term Care
Coverage," is now available to the public at http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-968.
For highlights only, see http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05968high.pdf.
This
report disappoints in many ways. It
asked the wrong questions. It used
the wrong methods. It searched the
wrong data. And, consequently, it
provides little new information of value.
The
important thing to remember about asset transfers to qualify for Medicaid is
that they are only a small part of the Medicaid eligibility problem.
Most people qualify for Medicaid nursing home eligibility without
manipulating their income or assets and without spending down significantly.
Medicaid has no hard limit on income (if medical expenses are high
enough) and no hard limit on assets (if they are held in exempt form). (For details on Medicaid nursing home eligibility, see
"Aging America's Achilles' Heel: Medicaid
Long-Term Care" at http://www.centerltc.com/AgingAmericasAchillesHeel.pdf.)
For
people with more than average income and assets, dozens of techniques that do
not depend on transferring assets are elaborated in hundreds of books and
articles and advertised on thousands of elder law websites. Such non-asset-transfer methods are easily used to qualify
for Medicaid LTC benefits without spending down.
Hence, the vast majority of people who seek to have the government pay
for their long-term care need not bother about transferring assets.
Unfortunately, "asset transfers" became the buzz phrase
encapsulating the much bigger problem of wide-open Medicaid eligibility
exacerbated by widespread Medicaid planning.
In truth, only a small part of Medicaid planning involves actually
transferring assets.
Furthermore,
only people with substantial assets, especially real property assets, are likely
to transfer significant assets to qualify for Medicaid.
They are most likely to transfer real estate.
And, they are highly likely to make such transfers at least three years
in advance of applying for Medicaid to avoid the "look-back" window.
GAO's approach to the transfer of assets question missed on each of these
counts. They reviewed a sample of
the whole elderly population instead of focusing on Medicaid nursing home
recipients likely to have transferred assets.
They looked only at cash transfers and ignored real property transfers.
And they made no effort whatsoever to examine asset transfers outside the
three-year lookback, which is the critical issue in deciding whether or not
Congress should lengthen the lookback period beyond three to five years.
In
summary, by asking the wrong questions, using the wrong methods, and examining
the wrong data, GAO missed a wonderful opportunity to shed light on the transfer
of assets problem.
What
should GAO have done?
First,
analyze the problem correctly and ask the right questions.
Eighty-two percent of people over the age of 62 own homes and 74 percent
of these own their homes free and clear. These
older homeowners have nearly $2 trillion in home equity, close to half of which
could be unlocked to pay for long-term care by means of home equity conversion
according to the National Council on the Aging.
Yet, GAO's own 1989 study of Medicaid estate recoveries (http://archive.gao.gov/d15t6/138099.pdf)
concluded that only 14 percent of people in nursing homes on Medicaid still own
their homes. There is no evidence
that people are selling their homes or otherwise using their home equity for
long-term care. So what happened to
all that home equity? Was it
transferred? If so, was it
transferred for purposes of qualifying for Medicaid or for other reasons that
resulted in Medicaid eligibility anyway? When
did such transfers occur, within or outside the three-year (general transfers)
or five-year (transfers to trusts) look-back windows? If a house was transferred, were cash, securities or other
assets transferred at the same time? Those
are the right questions to ask about Medicaid asset transfers.
Second,
make use of a method and review data that can answer the right questions.
Analyzing sample data on the elderly population in general as GAO did is
useless. Obviously people in
nursing homes on Medicaid or on the cusp of institutionalization based on severe
disability have relatively few assets and low incomes.
That's a methodological tautology. And
examining the wealth of the elderly population in general is meaningless. The vast majority of such people qualify for Medicaid nursing
home care based on the program's generous eligibility rules.
To find out how widespread the practice of Medicaid asset transfers
actually is will require original research to examine a valid random sample of
current Medicaid nursing home cases. Submit
such a sample to a comprehensive review including detailed interviews with the
Medicaid recipients and/or their personal representatives, thoroughly study the
Medicaid application and case file, pursue all leads regarding income, asset or
property ownership, and examine county recorders' and assessors' records to
identify real property ownership and transfers both in the current county of
residence and in counties of prior residence.
A review of this kind will solidly identify how significant the Medicaid
transfer of assets problem is. Such
a review is beyond the scope of routine eligibility determination, but it will
provide a baseline with which to compare and from which to improve the
eligibility process. More
importantly, it will indicate clearly how far back the Medicaid transfer of
assets lookback period must go to insure that most personal wealth remains
available for long-term care costs. Answering
that question is the key to saving Medicaid from financial ruin.
Despite
the foregoing criticism, the GAO report was not a total waste of effort.
Following are some passages of interest with page citations and our
comments when necessary.
-------------------
"None
of the nine states GAO contacted tracked or analyzed data on asset transfers or
penalties applied. . . . These
states generally relied on applicants' self-reporting of transfers of assets,
and officials from these states informed GAO that transfers not reported were
difficult to identify." (Highlights)
-------------------
"Because
certain types of long-term care-particularly nursing home care-are costly
(estimated by some to average over $70,000 a year for a private-pay patient),
individuals who pay for an extended stay in a nursing home can quickly deplete
their assets and subsequently qualify for Medicaid." (p. 7)
LTC
Comment: This trite observation
that people "can" quickly spend down for nursing home care begs the
question "Do they?" Answer:
there is no evidence of widespread nursing home spend down.
All but 10 to 15 percent of total nursing home costs are accounted for by
direct or indirect government financing and personal income, not assets.
-------------------
"[W]e
analyzed data from the 2002 Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a longitudinal
national panel survey, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and
conducted every 2 years by the University of Michigan.
. . . Our analysis includes
data from all elderly households; we did not assess whether the respondents had
or were seeking Medicaid coverage. Because
the HRS only addressed cash transfers-cash provided to relatives or other
individuals-our analysis understates the extent and amount of all transfers by
excluding transfers of property and other types of assets.
Since the HRS did not inquire about the reason for the cash transfers, no
conclusions can be drawn regarding the extent to which the survey respondents
transferred cash for purposes of establishing Medicaid eligibility for long-term
care." (p. 3)
LTC
Comment: Quod erat demonstrandum.
-------------------
"Although
most of the officials in the nine states we reviewed reported that some
individuals transferred assets for purposes of qualifying for Medicaid coverage
for long-term care, none of these systematically tracked or analyzed data that
would provide information on the incidence of asset transfers and the extent to
which penalties were applied in their states." (p. 5)
-------------------
"Overall,
severely disabled elderly households-those reporting three or more limitations
in ADLs-were less likely to transfer cash than nondisabled elderly
households." (p. 13)
LTC
Comment: That's no surprise.
What did they own and how much did they transfer before they came to need
help and did they manipulate their wealth in contemplation of Medicaid
eligibility? Those are the relevant
issues.
-------------------
"According
to data from the 2002 HRS, total income for the nation's approximately 28
million elderly households was $1.1 trillion and total nonhousing resources were
$6.6 trillion." (p. 13)
"About half of all elderly households had nonhousing
resources of $50,000 or less, while almost 20 percent had nonhousing resources
greater than $300,000." (p.
14)
LTC Comment: So,
GAO should have focused on understanding the 20 percent over $300,000.
Pareto said you get 80 percent of your results from 20 percent of your
efforts. Businesses have to
prioritize to survive; government rarely does.
GAO didn't in this case.
-------------------
"Disabled
elderly households—which are at higher risk of needing long-term care—had
lower levels of assets than nondisabled elderly households. Generally, as the
level of disability increased, the level of assets decreased.
Severely disabled elderly households, which made up about 6 percent of
total elderly households, had significantly lower median income ($13,200) and
median nonhousing resources ($3,200) compared with all elderly households
($24,200 and $51,500, respectively)."
(p. 15)
LTC
Comment: Possible explanation,
people jettison their wealth the closer they get to the nursing home door.
-------------------
"For example, giving away assets as a gift generally
results in the imposition of a penalty period, but giving away assets valued at
less than the average monthly private-pay rate for nursing home care may not,
depending, in part, on whether the state imposes partial-month penalties."
(p. 20)
"Because the penalty period begins at approximately
the date of asset transfer, individuals that meet Medicaid income eligibility
requirements can give away about half of their resources and use their remaining
resources to pay privately for long-term care during which time any penalty
period would expire. This is often
referred to as the 'half a loaf' strategy because it preserves at least half of
the individual’s resources. (pps.
22-23)
LTC
Comment: GAO's discussion of the
partial-month penalty, half-a-loaf strategy, and penalty date issues was weak.
We hope to tackle those issues in a policy analysis paper in the future.
-------------------
"Elder law attorneys explained that once individuals
are Medicaid-eligible, they and their families will have limited means.
Therefore, they [the Medicaid planners] advise these individuals to
update, renovate, repair, or replace old or deteriorating items such as homes
and cars to reduce the need for maintenance and repairs in the future.
No penalty is associated with paying a debt or making a purchase as long
as the individual receives something of roughly the same value in return."
(p. 21)
LTC Comment: Medicaid
planners also maintain comprehensive lists of items people can buy to convert
countable assets into non-countable property.
GAO was clearly captured by the Medicaid planners they interviewed whose
sanctimonious altruism masks egregious self-dealing.
-------------------
"In
addition, if the community spouse’s income is less than the state’s minimum
needs allowance, the state can choose to make up the shortfall by (1)
transferring income from the institutionalized spouse or (2) allowing the
community spouse to keep resources above the resource allowance so that the
additional funds can be invested to generate more income.
Under the latter approach, the community spouse may be able to retain a
significant amount of resources in order to yield the allowable amount of
income. For example, a community
spouse might ask to retain a savings account with $300,000 and an annual
interest rate of 2 percent that would yield an additional $500 in income per
month." (p. 21)
LTC
Comment: This commonplace practice
allows people to retain hundreds of thousands of dollars over the community
spouse resource allowance intended by Congress to be no more than $95,100.
-------------------
"None of the nine states we reviewed systematically
tracked or analyzed data that would provide information on the incidence of
asset transfers and the extent to which penalties were applied in their states.
Nationwide, all states requested information about applicants’ assets,
including transfers of assets, through Medicaid application forms, interviews to
determine Medicaid eligibility, or both. The nine states we reviewed generally
relied on applicants’ self-reporting of financial information and varied in
the amount of documentation they required and in the extent to which they
verified the assets reported. According to officials in these states, transfers
that were not reported by applicants were difficult to identify." (p. 25)
"Although
officials from the nine states reviewed reported that some individuals
transferred assets for purposes of qualifying for Medicaid, these states did not
systematically track and analyze data on the incidence of asset transfers or
associated penalties. As a result,
the states could not quantify the number of people who transferred assets, the
assets transferred, or the penalties applied as a result of transfers for less
than fair market value." (p. 26)
-------------------
"CMS noted that the Medicaid program will only be
sustainable if its resources are not drained to provide health care assistance
to those with substantial ability to contribute to the costs of their own care.
CMS acknowledged, however, the difficulty of gathering data on the extent
and cost of asset transfers to the Medicaid program.
In particular, CMS commented that the law is complex and that the
techniques individuals and attorneys devise to divest assets are ever-changing.
CMS reiterated the President’s budget proposal to tighten existing
rules related to asset transfers, and associated estimated savings, which we had
noted in the draft report. CMS
further noted one limitation to our analysis that we had disclosed in the draft
report—that the HRS only addressed cash transfers provided to relatives or
other individuals. CMS commented
that it believes that substantial amounts of assets are sheltered by individuals
who transfer homes, stocks and bonds, and other noncash property.
We agree with CMS’s view that information on such noncash transfers
would be valuable, but as we noted in the draft report the HRS does not include
such data. (p. 34)
LTC Comment: Criticism
of the GAO report by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) pretty
much hit the nail on the head.