Connecticut Home Care Program for the Elderly Asset Limits

TO:

FROM: Susan Goranson, Associate Analyst

RE: Connecticut Home Care Program for the Elderly Asset Limits

You asked for the qualifying income and asset limits for the Connecticut Home Care Program for the Elderly (CHCPE). You also asked for the maximum amount that can be spent on services for state-funded clients per month.

CHCPE provides an array of home care and community-based services to the state's elderly population (over age 65) who are at risk of institutionalization. The program consists of two parts. One part serves Medicaid-eligible individuals with the state and federal government splitting the cost. The other part of the program is entirely state funded with a sliding fee scale for certain individuals (CGS § 17b-342).

In order to qualify financially for the Medicaid-funded portion of the program a person must meet the income and asset rules applicable to an institutionalized Medicaid applicant. Effective January 1, 1995 the income limit for a single individual is $1,374 per month according to Suzanne Koscielecki from the Department of Social Services (DSS). The asset limit is $1,600 although a number of resources such as a residence, car, burial reserve, and a $1,500 face value life insurance policy are excluded from this limit.

For married applicants, the income level per individual is also $1,374 per month. But the asset rules are more complex. If both couples are clients of the program the asset limit is $3,200 ($1,600 each). If only one spouse is receiving services the asset limit is $16,564. But couples with assets over the limit may still be eligible based on a federal law which allows the spouse remaining in the community to protect more assets. As a result, according to DSS, in addition to the $1,600 in assets that the spouse receiving services may keep, a couple may protect assets equal to the greatest of:

1. $14,532;

2. the community spouse's share of the couple's assets or $72,660, whichever is less;

3. the amount established through a DSS fair hearing; or

4. the amount established through a court order.

State-funded clients must meet the same income test as Medicaid-funded ones: $1,374 per month per individual. The asset limits are simpler; $14,964 for a single individual and $22,446 for a couple, according to Koscielecki.

The law caps the maximum amount that can be spent on a state-funded client's total plan of care. The cap is 50% of the state's net cost of providing nursing home care. The cap is currently $1,623 per month.