Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Court studies Medicaid liens

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court is trying to decide whether to uphold a state policy of placing liens on homes of surviving spouses of people who owe money to the Medicaid program.

The AARP, which represents the interests of people 50 and older, said the outcome of this case will have a "significant impact upon the financial security of hundreds of widows and widowers in this state."

Rochelle Bobroff, representing the AARP, told the court Monday that the liens infringes on property rights. Most states, she said, do not place liens on such property. Nevada officials argued that the state needed to be able to recover the money it was owed.

The case before the state's highest court revolves around the late Harold Ullmer of Las Vegas. The state paid $144,475 in medical bills for Ullmer for his care in a nursing home until he died. Neither Ullmer nor his estate reimbursed the state, as was required, so a lien was placed on his home in the Wilbur Clark Paradise Gardens, near Tropicana Avenue and Swenson Street, where his widow Agnes resided.

Agnes Ullmer, who continues to live in the home, filed suit and District Judge Ronald Parraguirre ruled the policy of placing liens to recover Medicaid payments charged a "tremendous chilling effect on the property rights of surviving spouses." He issued an injunction stopping the state from placing future liens against the homes of surviving spouses.

The Supreme Court stayed the injunction until it rules on the Ullmer case, which has been certified in District Court as a class action. Medicaid is a federal and state program to pay for medical care for the poor.

Chuck Hilsabeck, deputy attorney general representing the state's Human Resources Department, said the liens are "good public policy" because it allows a person to qualify for Medicaid without counting the home as an asset. The lien never comes into play until the surviving spouse dies because the state's practice is to release the lien if the surviving spouse sells the home, he said. But there is no written policy to that effect, he acknowledged.

Chief Justice Deborah Agosti and Justices Mark Gibbons and Nancy Becker said Monday that they agreed with Paraguirre the lien places a "chilling" effect on the surviving spouse's property rights. Gibbons said buyers would walk away from the purchase of a house if there was a state lien on it.

Hilsabeck said the state releases the lien if there is a sale and the surviving spouse keeps the money from the sale. He said a title company usually calls and the lien is released if there is a sale.

Hilsabeck said the state recovers $1 million to $1.2 million a year from these liens. The state's Medicaid program is projected to spend $1.9 billion over the current biennium.

The court took the arguments under submission and will rule later.

archive