@article {12026, title = {Increasing Medicaid{\textquoteright}s Stagnant Asset Test For People Eligible For Medicare And Medicaid Will Help Vulnerable Seniors.}, journal = {Health Affairs}, volume = {40}, year = {2021}, pages = {1943-1952}, abstract = {

Low-income Medicare beneficiaries rely on Medicaid for supplemental coverage but must meet income and asset tests to qualify. We examined states{\textquoteright} income and asset tests for full-benefit Medicaid during the period 2006-18 and examined how alternative asset tests would affect eligibility for community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries ages sixty-five and older. Most states have not updated the dollar limit of Medicaid{\textquoteright}s asset test since 1989, making the asset test increasingly restrictive in inflation-adjusted terms. We estimated that increasing Medicaid{\textquoteright}s asset limit by the Consumer Price Index, to Medicare Savings Program levels, or to $10,000 for individuals and $20,000 for couples would increase Medicaid eligibility by 1.7~percent, 4.4~percent, and 7.5~percent, respectively. Simplifying Medicaid{\textquoteright}s asset test to focus only on certain high-value assets would increase eligibility by 20.5~percent. Increasing asset limits would lessen restrictions on Medicaid eligibility that arise from stagnant asset tests, broadening eligibility for certain low-income Medicare beneficiaries and allowing them to retain higher, yet still modest, savings.

}, keywords = {Eligibility Determination, Medicaid, Medicare}, issn = {1544-5208}, doi = {10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00841}, author = {Cornelio, Noelle and Melissa McInerney and Jennifer M Mellor and Roberts, Eric T and Lindsay M Sabik} }