A little known and under-publicized provision that Governor Andrew Cuomo cut from his executive FY17 budget could wipe senior citizens out of nearly their entire life savings if it is not restored.
The provision, known as the spousal refusal law, allows seniors who are in the community to separate their income and resources from their spouses whom have to be serviced in a nursing home due to chronic health needs that cannot be provided for at home.
Thousands of New Yorkers take advantage of this right in order to avoid unreasonable financial suffering when their spouse enters a nursing home. With spousal refusal, the healthy spouse is able to keep a home, a car, and $119,220 in assets.
Without spousal refusal, the couple would have to spend down and live the remainder of their lives on $23,844 in assets before Medicare – which many seniors have paid taxes into their entire working lives – would kick in to pay the cost.
The issue was brought to light last week in a bipartisan effort from Brooklyn Assembly Members Nicole Malliotakis (R,C,I-Bay Ridge, Staten Island), Assistant Speaker Felix W. Ortiz(D-Sunset Park), and Pamela Harris (D-Coney Island, Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge), who held a press conference at St. Nicholas Home, a senior living facility in Bay Ridge, calling for the restoration of the cut.
“Caring for an ailing spouse is often a full-time job and extremely burdensome on the healthy caregiver, let along the financial cost. I urge my colleagues in the Senate and Assembly to, once again, preserve spousal refusal to ensure that this critical safety net is available for families that are counting on it. The loss of spousal refusal would be devastating to so many seniors in our community and will cause the healthy spouse to lose their entire life savings to provide care for their loved one,” said Malliotakis.
Ortiz noted thousands of New Yorkers take advantage of this right in order to avoid unreasonable financial suffering when their spouse enters a nursing home. “We need to stand up for our seniors and protect their right to spousal refusal. Its elimination would cause a serious financial burden on one of New York’s most vulnerable populations,” he said.
Harris said when you have a sick spouse, the last thing you should worry about is financial stability – the emotional struggle is a heavy burden in itself.
“Ending spousal refusal would force families to take on an overwhelming financial burden. Spouses should not be forced to exhaust their financial resources when what they need is stability and our complete support. Any of us could need this provision one day, and it would be wrong to end it,” said Harris.
A spokesperson from Cuomo’s Division of Budget said the cuts have been included in New York State executive budgets for the past 25 years and the legislature has always restored the money for it.
Federal Medicaid law does not have any spousal refusal and both spouses income and assets must count towards Medicaid eligibility and as a result New York State is on the hook for any of extra cost, said the spokesperson, adding that New York, Connecticut and Florida are the only states in the county with spousal refusal laws.
Sheepshead Bay Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz, who is chair of the Assembly’s Aging Committee, said it’s an outrage that senior spouses are being forced to spend their money before their husbands or wives are taken care of.
It’s already in my request to the Speaker to restore it in the budget again. It happens every year. It’s a pity that senior programs are on the chopping block, and as more and more of us become seniors there are less programs put out for them by this administration,” said Cymbrowitz.
“This has been going on for 26 years. It’s part of the budget dance, but they’re dancing over the lives of seniors.”
