(Washington, D.C.) –
Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affair
Committee, sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Eric Shinseki
urging him to increase the amount of assets a spouse of a veteran receiving VA
long-term care is able to protect to current levels. Currently, the allowance
is based on the amount allowed under Medicaid programs in 2002 and has not been
adjusted for increases in the cost of living. The letter also advises Secretary
Shinseki to index the allowance for the future to offset the effects of
inflation. The change would affect the spouses of veterans who are receiving
long-term care.
“As a
result of Committee oversight, I learned that the spouses of veterans who are
required to make co-payments for VA extended care are allowed to keep less in
financial resources than are the spouses of Medicaid recipients. I do not
believe that this inequity was VA’s intent at the time the applicable
regulation was issued, and I urge you to eliminate this harmful discrepancy,” wrote Senator Murray.
Full text of the letter is below:
May 9, 2011
The Honorable Eric K. Shinseki
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20420
Dear
Secretary Shinseki:
As a
result of Committee oversight, I learned that the spouses of veterans who are
required to make co-payments for VA extended care are allowed to keep less in
financial resources than are the spouses of Medicaid recipients. I do not
believe that this inequity was VA’s intent at the time the applicable
regulation was issued, and I urge you to eliminate this harmful discrepancy.
I
served on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs when we considered and
reported legislation to mandate extended care to certain veterans. Enacted as
the Veterans Millennium Health Care and Benefits Act, Public Law 106-117, I
fully expected that VA would take the needs of the spouse of such veterans into
account when establishing co-pays and the amount of exempted financial
resources.
The
VA set the spousal resource protection amount at $89,289, basing the figure on
the amount allowed by 23 State Medicaid programs in calendar year 2002. While
Medicaid programs have continued to adjust the allowable amount to offset the
effects of inflation — the allowable amount for 2011 is $109,560 — the
comparable amount for the spouses of our veterans in extended-care facilities
remains frozen at the 2002 level.
Unlike
the VA, Medicaid indexes its spousal allowance. I believe that the spouses of
our veterans receiving extended care should receive no less and therefore hope
that you will consider raising the spousal resource protection amount and
indexing it for the future. As many of the veterans in extended-care facilities
are exempt from co-payments, I believe that the cost of doing so would be
minimal. I am enclosing a memo prepared by Committee staff that may be of
assistance to your staff.
Thank
you for your consideration of my request. I am confident that, working
together, we can ensure that the spouses of veterans who receive extended care
can avoid depleting assets urgently needed for their own retirement
years.
Sincerely,
Patty
Murray
Chairman
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