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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
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to fund 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 SENATE 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
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the aging and long-term
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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.