According to Arkansas' highest court, the state may count a spouse's retirement account as an available resource when determining a Medicaid applicant's eligibility. Arkansas Dept. of Human Services v. Pierce (Ark., No. CV-13-870, May 29, 2014).
Gordon Pierce entered a nursing home and applied for Medicaid benefits. Mr. Pierce's wife, Martha owned two retirement accounts. The state determined that the retirement accounts were available resources and denied Mr. Pierce's application for benefits.
Mr. Pierce appealed, arguing that a state's standards for determining Medicaid eligibility can be no more restrictive than those for determining Supplemental Security Income (SSI) eligibility, and that under the SSI guidelines, Mrs. Pierce's retirement accounts would have been excluded from an eligibility determination. After the hearing officer ruled that the retirement accounts were available resources, Mr. Pierce appealed to court. The trial court reversed, holding that the state should not have counted Mrs. Pierce's retirement accounts when determining Mr. Pierce's Medicaid eligibility. The state appealed.
The Arkansas Supreme Court reverses, holding that the state may count Mrs. Pierce's retirement accounts as an available resource for the purposes of determining Mr. Pierce's Medicaid eligibility. According to the court, although the Medicaid Act’s eligibility requirements must be no more restrictive than SSI’s eligibility requirements, the SSI regulations provide no guidance when one spouse is institutionalized. One justice dissents, arguing that the "living together" provision in SSI regulations doesn't require the spouses to be under one roof together.
For the full text of this decision, go to: https://opinions.aoc.arkansas.gov/WebLink8/0/doc/327275/Electronic.aspx
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