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

2014.
i. If the community spouse does not have enough income from his or
her own sources to meet the Community Spouse Income
Allowance, income can be transferred from the Medical Assistance
Spouse to the Community Spouse. This transfer is a one-way
street. It only goes from the Medical Assistance Spouse to the
Community Spouse.
j. There is no cap under federal law on the amount of income that a
community spouse may have and keep.
IV.
ACA MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT (MOE) COMING TO END
A. CASCADING MOES
1. Since July 1, 2008, Minnesota has been blocked from making
significant changes in its medical assistance programs by a series of
federal maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements.
2. "Maintenance of effort" means that the state, in order to receive
federal medical assistance matching funds, cannot reduce its efforts
to provide basic medical assistance benefits to Minnesota residents
compared to benefits that were available under previous eligibility
standards, methodologies or procedures.
3. These maintenance of effort requirements were imposed by the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Public
Law 111-5, 17 the Education, Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act of
2010 (EJMAA), 18 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act (ACA) of 2010, 19 The current maintenance of effort
requirement is contained in ACA.
17
This law is also called the Stimulus Act, but it should not be confused with the stimulus acts
passed in the last year of the Bush Administration, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, and the
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which created the Troubled Assets Relief Program
(TARP).
18
Pub. L. 111-5.
19
Pub. L. 148.
11