Probate & Trust Law Section Conference Manual ... - Minnesota CLE

57,302 received benefits available for the elderly. 6
B. As of February 13, 2013, there were 373 MA-certified and/or state licensed skilled
nursing facilities (SNFs) in Minnesota, 7 with a total of 32,728 active beds. 8 The
average statewide occupancy rate in 2009 for SNFs was 91.6 percent. The
monthly average number of MA recipients served in SNFs during State Fiscal
Year 2010 was 18,371. 9
C. The MA programs pay expenses that are considered medically necessary, but only
for persons who are elderly, or permanently and totally disabled, or who fit other
eligibility categories such as pregnant women, children, families with children, and
the new program for low-income adults without children. Low-income adults
without children are not eligible for this program if they are eligible for benefits
under another program. They must have income levels at or below poverty level
to qualify for benefits. These programs have no asset test, no look-back period,
no penalties for asset transfers and no recovery of MA benefits correctly paid for
this program. Programs that assist families with children are linked to poverty and
also provide eligibility for MA. There is no look-back period, no penalties for
asset transfers and no recovery of benefits correctly paid. The elderly and persons
with disabilities must satisfy both income and asset limits to qualify for MA. The
elderly and persons with disabilities also face a look-back period, penalties for
asset transfers, attempts to recover MA benefits correctly paid and other obstacles
to eligibility that the vast bulk of MA recipients do not face. These obstacles and
6 “Enrollees Eligible in Sept 2012 as of Feb 02, 2013,” Monthly Medical Care Programs Enrollment Counts
Statewide and by County, by Program and Program Components, February 2013, p. 3, available at:
http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_FILE&RevisionSelectionMethod=LatestReleased&Re
ndition=Primary&allowInterrupt=1&noSaveAs=1&dDocName=dhs_id_016343. These numbers totalled
734,705, a difference of 1,874 more than the monthly average number of recipients reported pursuant to
Footnote 1.
7 Minnesota Nursing Home Report Care Fact Sheet, February 13, 2013, p. 3, available at:
http://nhreportcard.dhs.mn.gov/nhreportcardfactsheet.pdf.
8 Id. A decade ago there were approximatley 46,000 certified nursing home beds in Minnesota. Over the past
decade, the State has actively pursued a policy of encouraging operators of nursing homes to close nursing homes
and reduce beds. A number of nursing homes have closed due to the inadequacy of approved nursing home
reimbursement rates under MA in the face of rising expenses, the obsolescence of older nursing home facilities,
and the public and private pressures to shift nursing home residents into less expensive Assisted Living facilities.
As a result, there are far fewer nursing home beds available now than a decade ago. The number of nursing
home beds continues to decline from year to year.
9 Nursing Facility (NF) Facts, Nursing Facility Rates and Policy (NFRP) Division, Long-Term Care Policy
Center, MN DHS, updated as of November 11, 2011, available at:
http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/idcplg?IdcService=GET_DYNAMIC_CONVERSION&RevisionSelectionMeth
od=LatestReleased&dDocName=id_005399. More recent information is not readily available from the DHS
web site regarding current occupancy rates.
4