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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, The State of Texas has long prioritized efforts to |
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protect and provide for the well-being of its elderly residents; |
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unfortunately, this worthy commitment has been compromised by |
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federal law mandating the creation of a Medicaid estate recovery |
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program; and |
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WHEREAS, An estimated six million elderly in the United |
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States required long-term care in 2000; while most Americans have |
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at least some insurance to cover the costs of medical care, the |
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private insurance available for long-term care generally provides |
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very limited coverage, often only for "post-acute" care that |
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immediately follows hospitalization, and studies indicate that the |
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availability of even this limited private coverage is particularly |
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low in Texas; and |
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WHEREAS, Concurrently, long-term care is expensive, with the |
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average cost of one year in a nursing home in 2006 at approximately |
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$70,000 and expected to rise to more than $83,000 by 2010; as a |
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consequence, many of our elderly citizens rely on publicly funded |
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programs like Medicaid to help pay for their care; and |
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WHEREAS, The Congressional Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act |
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(OBRA) of 1993 required the states to establish a program to recover |
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all or part of the costs of certain nursing facility and long-term |
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care services from the estates of Medicaid beneficiaries; to |
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qualify for Medicaid coverage an individual must meet very strict |
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income and resource eligibility standards; in effect, estate |
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recovery is a "death tax" levied against the families of elderly |
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beneficiaries who exhausted most of their assets to pay for their |
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own care and, ultimately, were forced to rely on Medicaid as a last |
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resort; and |
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WHEREAS, Regrettably, the estate recovery program is not an |
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effective means of managing states' increasing Medicaid costs; a |
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study conducted between 1997 and 1998 by the North Carolina |
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Department of Health and Human Services concluded that the amount |
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collected by reporting states under estate recovery as a percentage |
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of total 1998 Medicaid expenditures ranged from a low of .01 percent |
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to a high of .83 percent; and |
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WHEREAS, Medicaid is a critical safety net for thousands of |
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low to moderate income elderly Texans who, much like the State of |
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Texas, are confronted by the ever-increasing costs of long-term |
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care; rather than pursuing these families for what little remains |
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of their loved ones' assets, Congress should seek more sustainable |
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and less punitive solutions to the nation's long-term care needs; |
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now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 80th Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to eliminate |
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the requirement that states implement as part of their Medicaid |
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state plan an estate recovery program; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the |
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senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the |
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Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this |
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resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |