When an older adult can no longer can live independently, and is eligible for Medicaid, he or she often qualifies for home and community-based services (HCBS) that enable the individual to stay at home, rather than move to a nursing facility or other health care institution. The same is true for persons with disabilities. HCBS are provided under a service plan; under federal Medicaid regulations effective since March 2014, those service plans cannot compel unpaid assistance by family members such as adult children.
As illustrated by Medicaid hearing decisions from Florida, however, state Medicaid programs (frequently through managed care organizations) often compel unpaid assistance from family members. The managed care organizations (MCOs) authorize service levels with the presumption that family members should be providing a certain level of personal care assistance. This leads to a lower level of Medicaid-funded service hours, which in turn requires family members to provide assistance to cover the service gap.
One problem in Florida is a “medical necessity” definition that denies Medicaid-funded services to the extent that those services are provided for caregiver convenience. This definition has been cited by MCOs and hearing officers to justify reduced levels of services, even when the caregiver’s “convenience” is his or her need to hold employment outside the home. Furthermore, twelve other states also have a similar “caregiver convenience” provision in the state’s Medicaid medical necessity definition.
In Florida and across the country, Medicaid beneficiaries and their advocates should address this problem. Florida advocates have made some progress in this area, and the state now agrees that service authorizations should respect a family caregiver’s outside employment. The Florida experience suggests the type of advocacy that could and should be pursued in Florida and other states. In individual service requests and appeals, beneficiaries and advocates should forcefully assert the voluntariness requirement of the federal service planning regulations. On a systemic level, advocates should argue for the removal or revision of “caregiver convenience” provisions, and advocate for service authorization procedures that explicitly incorporate the voluntariness requirement.
