Case Law Library

The Institutionalized Spouse (IS) applied for MaineCare as she was currently living in a nursing home. When she received the amount she was to pay for her care, the annuity income was included in the cost calculation. The Department of Health and Human Services argued that including the annuity income in her cost of care calculation was correct. An administrative hearing was then scheduled to come to a conclusion on this issue.

In this case, the court needed to decide if income from an annuity can be counted towards the institutionalized spouse's income (Petitioner) or can it can be excluded since the payment is in the Petitioner's wife's name alone?

Zahner, Claypoole, Sanner v. Penn Dept. of Human Services validated the use of short-term MCAs in Medicaid planning. There is no limitation on how short an MCA needs to be in order to be considered "actuarially sound."

Adherence to proper procedure is essential for elder law practitioners who assist clients with Medicaid applications and benefit denials. In this article, we provide historical context to these procedures by revisiting the United States Supreme Court Case, Goldberg v. Kelly, 90 S. Ct. 1011 (1970), in which the Supreme Court was asked to answer the question: does the state's termination of a recipient's benefits without a hearing violate the 14th amendment due process clause?