SF 1112

Introduction - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006)

Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00 a.m.

A bill for an act
relating to health; modifying the medical assistance
asset limit for persons who are aged, blind, or
disabled; amending Minnesota Statutes 2004, section
256B.056, subdivision 3.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 256B.056,
subdivision 3, is amended to read:

Subd. 3.

Asset limitations for individuals and families.

To be eligible for medical assistance, a person must not
individually own more than $3,000 in assets, or if a member of a
household with two family members, husband and wife, or parent
and child, the household must not own more than $6,000 in
assets, plus $200 for each additional legal dependent. In
addition to these maximum amounts, an eligible individual or
family may accrue interest on these amounts, but they must be
reduced to the maximum at the time of an eligibility
redetermination. The accumulation of the clothing and personal
needs allowance according to section 256B.35 must also be
reduced to the maximum at the time of the eligibility
redetermination. The value of assets that are not considered in
determining eligibility for medical assistance is the value of
those assets excluded under the supplemental security income
program for aged, blind, and disabled persons, with the
following exceptions:

(a) Household goods and personal effects are not considered.

(b) Capital and operating assets of a trade or business
that the local agency determines are necessary to the person's
ability to earn an income are not considered.

(c) Motor vehicles are excluded to the same extent excluded
by the supplemental security income program new text begin , except that up to
$8,460 of the current market value of one motor vehicle may be
excluded. Beginning July 1, 2006, and each July 1 thereafter,
the commissioner shall adjust this value by the percentage
change in the nationwide average price of a new car for the most
recent calendar years for which this information is available as
reported by the United States Department of Commerce new text end .

(d) Assets designated as burial expenses are excluded to
the same extent excluded by the supplemental security income
program. Burial expenses funded by annuity contracts or life
insurance policies must irrevocably designate the individual's
estate as contingent beneficiary to the extent proceeds are not
used for payment of selected burial expenses.

(e) Effective upon federal approval, for a person who no
longer qualifies as an employed person with a disability due to
loss of earnings, assets allowed while eligible for medical
assistance under section 256B.057, subdivision 9, are not
considered for 12 months, beginning with the first month of
ineligibility as an employed person with a disability, to the
extent that the person's total assets remain within the allowed
limits of section 256B.057, subdivision 9, paragraph (b).