Legislator response concerning ABLE act

[Guest guest]

I am very pleased to announce that I got some of my questions answered about the ABLE act from one of the bill's sponsors. You can read her response below.It does appear true that if the ABLE act is passed, any funds in the ABLE account when the person dies goes back to the government to "pay back" what Medicaid spent on the person. Whereas, a special needs trust does not surrender the funds back to the state.So it begs the question, who administers the ABLE funds to our children? Is there a conflict of interest if the state is determined to be the one dolling out the dollars, if they are also going to get paid back by any remaining funds when your child dies?This is stuff I hate to think about, but I know it is important. Thank y'all again for lighting the spark that gets me into the process of setting something up for my own child.Begin forwarded message:Subject: RE: [DownSyndromeInfoExchange] Fwd: Join NDSS for the July ABLE Act Challenge -- Help Us Reach 200 Cosponsors in the House and 35 Cosponsors in the Senate by July 31stDate: July 2, 2012 10:11:50 AM CDTTo: Borkowski Cc: "Summar, " , "McCloskey, (Casey)" Hi , If the person dies or is no longer determined to be a person with a disability, Medicaid can only take funds for whatever is left in the ABLE account- up to what Medicaid paid for that person. They cannot take any funds not in the ABLE account. This is why it is clear to point out burial and legal funds will be taken out first, and then whatever is left, if anything, Medicaid can claim. Depending on what type of financial tools are currently used, determines if you payback Medicaid- like pooled trusts, they require a Medicaid payback upon death of the beneficiary. But, if a special needs trust is set-up as a 3rd party trust, then a Medicaid payback is not required. It all depends on what type of savings tool the individual has. We also wrote the legislation to say that the state is a creditor and not a beneficiary of the account. Currently in some states with pooled trusts, states are claiming they are entitled to the trust since they are a beneficiary. This is why we used creditor, as the state can take after all burial and legal funds are used only what Medicaid had paid for the individual. Thanks, DebesLegislative AssistantU.S. Congressman Ander Crenshaw 440 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 www.crenshaw.house.gov From: Borkowski Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 12:26 PMTo: Debes, ; Summar, ; jennifer_mccloskey@...Subject: Fwd: [DownSyndromeInfoExchange] Fwd: Join NDSS for the July ABLE Act Challenge -- Help Us Reach 200 Cosponsors in the House and 35 Cosponsors in the Senate by July 31st I would like to explore this section of the ABLE act. Does it read like I think it reads? That the state is entitled to the remaining funds because the state is determined to be a creditor when the person dies or ceases to be disabled? Perhaps our representatives could explain it better, or the NDSS. "(5) TRANSFER TO STATE- Subject to any outstanding payments due for qualified disability expenses, in the case that the designated beneficiary dies or ceases to be an individual with a disability, all amounts remaining in the qualified ABLE account not in excess of the amount equal to the total medical assistance paid for the designated beneficiary after the establishment of the account, net of any premiums paid from the account or paid by or on behalf of the beneficiary to a Medicaid Buy-In program, under any State Medicaid plan established under title XIX of the Social Security Act shall be distributed to such State upon filing of a claim for payment by such State. For purposes of this paragraph, the State shall be a creditor of an ABLE account and not a beneficiary. Subsection ©(3) shall not apply to a distribution under the preceding sentence." Sent from my iPadBegin forwarded message:Date: June 28, 2012 9:01:47 PM GMT+08:00To: "Lourie Pearlman" Subject: Join NDSS for the July ABLE Act Challenge -- Help Us Reach 200 Cosponsors in the House and 35 Cosponsors in the Senate by July 31st Reply-To: "NDSS Advocacy Alerts" NDSS July ABLE Act ChallengeMore Info The ABLE Act currently has 166 cosponsors in the House and 22 cosponsors in the Senate… but we still need more cosponsors to help us pass the bill. You can help us reach over 200 cosponsors in the House and 35 cosponsors in the Senate by July 31 (August Recess)! Please take a few moments and make a call, send an email, and/or set up a meeting with your Senators and Representative to discuss the ABLE Act TODAY. It only takes a few minutes and makes a huge difference!Click on the links (House and Senate) to find out if your Members of Congress have cosponsored the ABLE Act. NDSS has three easy ways to contact your Senators and Representatives:1) Call (here) - using our call-in template2) Write (here) - using our email template3) Meet (here) - to set up a meeting with your Senators and RepresentativesFor more information about the ABLE Act, please use the following resources:ABLE Act one-pagerThe ABLE Act - The 112th CongressABLE Act Gains Support from 49 National, State, and Local Advocacy Organizations If you are not on the NDSS action alert email list and would like to receive these alerts and information bulletins, please subscribe at:http://capwiz.com/ndss/mlm/signup/ National Down Syndrome Society666 Broadway, New York, NY 10012Phone: ; Fax: Web site: http://www.ndss.org NDSS National Policy Center5505 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. # 239Washington, DC 20015-2601Phone: e-mail: advocacy@... The mission of the National Down Syndrome Society is to be the national advocate for the value, acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome. The National Down Syndrome Society envisions a world in which all people with Down syndrome have the opportunity to enhance their quality of life, realize their life aspirations, and become valued members of welcoming communities. If you no longer wish to receive e-mail from us, please click here.TODAY(Beta) •=