SENATE MEMORIAL 35

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005

INTRODUCED BY

Dede Feldman

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE AGING AND LONG-TERM SERVICES DEPARTMENT TO LEAD A STUDY ON THE FINANCIAL IMPACT OF FACILITY-BASED CARE ON THE MEDICAID BUDGET AND IDENTIFY ALTERNATIVE MODELS OF FINANCING SUCH CARE.

     WHEREAS, the population of New Mexicans over the age of sixty-five is growing and will almost double by the year 2020; and

     WHEREAS, due to medical advances, people are living longer, but not necessarily healthier, lives; and

     WHEREAS, the population of people over the age of eighty-five is growing twice as fast as that of people over sixty-five, and these are the most frail of the elderly; and 

     WHEREAS, a large and growing number of aging people are suffering from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease and are unable to care for themselves; and

     WHEREAS, the medicaid program in New Mexico covers the cost of nursing home care and home- and community-based services for the elderly and disabled and provides in excess of two hundred twenty-one million dollars ($221,000,000) in combined state and federal funding for these services; and

     WHEREAS, the private cost of nursing home care is unaffordable for most people in need of nursing home care and therefore most families have come to rely on medicaid to fund this level of care for their elderly relatives; and

     WHEREAS, people are finding it relatively easy to qualify for medicaid long-term care services, despite seemingly restrictive eligibility rules, and this relaxed access has resulted in an entitlement mentality regarding the financing of these services; and

     WHEREAS, use of private, out-of-pocket and insurance financing of these long-term care services has languished while medicaid costs have skyrocketed; and

     WHEREAS, long-term care insurance, home equity conversion and other alternative mechanisms for private financing of long-term care services have been little utilized;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the aging and long-term services department be requested to lead a study with the cooperation of the human services department and appropriate statewide organizations representing aging and long-term care services to study the financial impact of facility-based and home- and community-based care on the medicaid budget and identify alternative models of financing such care; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this study identify appropriate incentives to encourage self-care and the use of insurance, explore potential ways to limit asset identification and asset transfers and promote maximum medicaid estate recovery; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the aging and long-term services department support the efforts of a statewide organization representing the needs of people with Alzheimer's disease, and others as appropriate, to hold a conference exploring alternative models of financing long-term care services; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the aging and long-term services department develop recommendations on implementation of alternative mechanisms for financing long-term care services and report its findings and recommendations to the interim legislative health and human services committee at its October 2005 meeting; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the aging and long-term services department and the human services department provide copies of the report to appropriate statewide organizations representing aging and long-term care; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the aging and long-term services department and the human services department.

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