2010 LAWS AFFECTING SENIORS |
2010-R-0233
By: Robin Cohen, Principal Analyst
May 27, 2010
This report provides brief highlights of new laws (public acts) affecting seniors (people age 60 or older) enacted during the 2010 session. At the end of each summary we indicate the public act (PA) number.
Not all provisions of the acts are included here. Complete summaries of all 2010 public acts will be available in the fall when OLR's Public Act Summary book is published; some are already on OLR's webpage:
http://www.cga.ct.gov/olr/OLRPASums.asp
Readers are encouraged to obtain the full text of acts that interest them from the Connecticut State Library, the House Clerk's Office, or the General Assembly's website: http://www.cga.ct.gov/.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders—Cost Sharing Reduction and Notice of Redetermination 4
Medicaid Coverage for Long-Term Care Services 4
Assisted Living—Help with Insurance Forms 4
Eyeglass Coverage in Medicaid Program 5
Adverse Event Reporting and Patient Complaints 6
Auto Discount for Older Drivers 7
Reduction in Sportsman's Fees and Caps on Camping and Park Fees 7
Exempting Payments from Federal Health Care Reform Law for Program Eligibility Purposes 8
Delay in Reestablishment of Department on Aging 8
Funding for Alzheimer's Research and Respite 8
Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders—Cost Sharing Reduction and Notice of Redetermination
In 2009, the legislature imposed cost sharing on all participants in the state-funded portion of the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders (CHCPE), not just those with incomes above 200% of the federal poverty level. Individuals were required to pay 15% of their care costs (which, for the higher income individuals, was on top of the amount they already paid). A new law reduces the contribution to 6%.
PA 10-179, effective July 1, 2010
Another new law requires the Department of Social Services (DSS), when sending renewal forms to CHCPE participants, to also notify the access agency or area agency on aging operating the particular home care program in which the client participates.
PA 10-126, effective July 1, 2010
Medicaid Coverage for Long-Term Care Services
A new law makes two changes in how DSS treats an individual's income and assets when determining his or her eligibility for Medicaid. First, it allows a nursing home resident's spouse to keep a greater amount of the couple's combined liquid assets when eligibility is first determined. Second, it requires DSS to get permission from the federal Medicaid agency to exempt reverse annuity mortgages as income or assets, in certain circumstances.
PA 10-73, effective upon passage
Assisted Living—Help with Insurance Forms
Managed residential communities (MRC) must now help their residents prepare and submit claims on long-term care insurance policies under a new law. The residents must tell the insurer in writing to provide the MRC with (1) information about their eligibility for benefits and payment and (2) a copy of the insurer's decision that the residents receive. The new law prohibits the insurers and other long-term policy carriers from refusing to accept these claims or reimburse claims solely because the MRC assisted the resident.
PA 10-127, effective July 1, 2010
An omnibus new law makes several changes in how nursing homes are overseen, managed, and operated. This includes allowing DSS to examine or audit the financial records of management companies operating nursing homes, as the department may already do in the case of nursing homes. The new law also requires nursing homes to maintain resident records for at least seven years after the resident dies or is discharged from the home. It allows homes to keep the temperature in areas that residents use lower than the state Public Health Code minimum standards if the homes comply with federal law (71-81 degrees Fahrenheit). And it allows nursing homes to extend the break between the evening meal and breakfast if the resident agrees and the home provides a bedtime snack.
PA 10-117, effective October 1, 2010, except the break extension is effective July 1, 2010
Eyeglass Coverage in Medicaid Program
Two new laws limit the number of pairs of eyeglasses that Medicaid recipients may receive to one per year. Previously, there was no limit as long as a doctor prescribed them and they were deemed medically necessary.
PA 10-3 and PA 10-179, effective upon passage
Adverse Event Reporting and Patient Complaints
A new law changes the state's hospital adverse event reporting law. It requires the Department of Public Health's (DPH) annual report to the legislature on adverse events to include (1) aggregate information for each hospital and outpatient surgical facility, (2) contextual information about the facility, and (3) any informational comments the facility provides on the events.
The new law also requires DPH to provide patients access to information if they have filed complaints with DPH alleging incompetence, negligence, fraud, or deceit by health care providers. DPH must also provide notice about any complaint's status and disposition.
PA 10-122, effective July 1, except the patient complaint provisions are effective October 1, 2010
A new law exempts from disclosure under the state's Freedom of Information Act the name, address, telephone number, or email address of anyone who is a member of, or enrolled in, a senior center that a public agency administers or sponsors.
PA 10-17, effective October 1, 2010
A different new law adds a penalty of up to $11,000 for each violation of the “do not call” list. State law allows any individual to register a telephone number with the “Do Not Call” registry, and prohibits telephone solicitors from making unsolicited telephone calls to anyone on it. By law, a violation is an unfair trade practice.
PA 10-52, effective January 1, 2011
A new law requires health insurance policies that cover intravenous (IV) and orally administered anticancer medications prescribed by a licensed practitioner to cover the oral drugs at least as favorably as it does the IV ones. It prohibits insurers, HMOs, medical and hospital service corporations, and fraternal benefit societies from reclassifying anticancer medications or increasing the patient's out-of-pocket costs for them as a way to comply.
PA 10-63, effective January 1, 2011
Auto Discount for Older Drivers
A minimum 5% discount on auto insurance (good for two years) is available for drivers aged 60 and older who successfully complete an accident prevention course that the Department of Motor Vehicles approves. A new law specifies that the course must be four hours long.
PA 10-53, effective October 1, 2010
A new law makes several changes in probate fees for settling decedents' estates, including (1) imposing interest for unpaid costs for estates over certain amounts, (2) allowing probate court fees to be paid by credit card, and (3) making various other changes to related matters.
PA 10-184, effective various dates
Reduction in Sportsman's Fees and Caps on Camping and Park Fees
A new law decreases several sportsman's fees and caps camping and state park fees. For example, it reduces the resident fishing license fee from $40 to $28, and reduces the firearms permit fee from $28 to $19. Resident fees for leasing campsites and buildings and parking, admission, boat launching, and other uses can be no more than 135% of the resident fees charged on April 1, 2009.
PA 10-3, effective upon passage, and the camping and state park fee changes apply to those collected after May 1, 2010
A new law expands opportunities for a school district to reemploy retired teachers who are collecting pensions from the Teachers' Retirement System.
PA 10-111, effective upon passage
Exempting Payments from Federal Health Care Reform Law for Program Eligibility Purposes
A new law excludes any payment under the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (new federal health care reform law)(e.g., Medicare Part D $250 rebate in 2010) from being counted as income for someone who applies for or receives need-based benefits or services from any state or state-funded local program, including local property tax relief. Likewise, for program eligibility purposes, the payment cannot be counted as an asset for the month in which it is received and the following two months.
PA 10-179, effective upon passage
Delay in Reestablishment of Department on Aging
The legislature again delayed the reestablishment of the Department on Aging from July 1, 2010 until July 1, 2011.
PA 10-179, effective July 1, 2010
Funding for Alzheimer's Research and Respite
The Biomedical Research Trust Fund, created with Tobacco Settlement Funds, can now be used to grant funds for biomedical research into Alzheimer's disease and diabetes under a law just passed. Previously, the funds could be used only for heart disease, cancer, and other tobacco-related disease research.
PA 10-136, effective July 1, 2010
The 2011 budget adjustments include an additional $500,000 for the Alzheimer's respite care program.
PA 10-179, effective July 1, 2010
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