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A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE AGING AND LONG-TERM SERVICES DEPARTMENT

LEAD A STUDY ON THE FINANCIAL IMPACT OF FACILITY-BASED CARE ON

THE MEDICAID BUDGET AND IDENTIFY ALTERNATIVE MODELS OF

FINANCING LONG-TERM CARE.

WHEREAS, the population of New Mexico over the age of

sixty-five is growing and will double by the year 2025 and,

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 individuals 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 cost of private 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

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this type of care for their elderly relatives; and

WHEREAS, people are finding that qualifying for medicaid

long-term services is relatively easy, despite seemingly

restrictive eligibility rules, and that this relaxed access

has resulted in an entitlement mentality regarding financing

of long-term care services, and use of private, out-of-pocket

and insurance financing for long-term services has languished

while medicaid costs have skyrocketed; and

WHEREAS, long-term care insurance, home equity

conversion and other alternative mechanisms of private

financing have been little used;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the aging and

long-term services department be requested to conduct a study,

in cooperation with the human services department and the

appropriate statewide organizations representing aging and

long-term services, on the financial impact of facility-based

and home- and community-based long-term care on the medicaid

budget and identify alternative models of financing long-term

care; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study identify

appropriate incentives to encourage self-care and the use of

insurance, explore potential ways to limit asset

identification and asset transfer and promote maximum medicaid

estate recovery; and

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BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the aging and long-term

services department be requested to support the efforts of a

statewide organization representing the needs of people with

Alzheimer's disease, and other organizations 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 be requested to develop recommendations on

implementation of alternative mechanisms of financing long-

term care services and report the findings and recommendations

to the legislative health and human services committee in

October 2006; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the secretaries of aging and long-term services

and human services.