Has Your Stimulus Check Been Taken by the Nursing Home?

As we all know Congress has authorized stimulus payments to be made to those eligible persons. The CARES Act provides $1200 for individuals, $2400 for joint taxpayers and taxpayers with children with $500 for each child. The payments are not counted as taxable income for recipients. According to the Federal Trade Commission, some nursing homes and assisted living facilities are trying to take the stimulus checks intended for those residents on Medicaid. Federal law prohibits this.

The economic impact payments are according to the CARES Act, a tax credit. Under federal law tax credits do not count as resources for Federal benefits programs such as Medicaid. Medicaid cannot consider the stimulus checks as eligible resources and so the checks cannot be considered part of what is known as the “patient pay” to nursing homes or assisted living facilities. If you are, or you know someone, in a nursing home or assisted living facility and they are trying to have you sign over your stimulus check then you should report it to the Delaware Department of Justice immediately. Additionally, you can file a complaint with the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.

The stimulus checks, like income tax refunds, cannot be considered as either income or available resources pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6409 for a period of twelve months from the receipt of the refund for benefits or assistance under any Federal program or under any State or local program financed with Federal funds. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office is currently handling complaints and, according to the FTC, other states have received complaints as well. If you have any questions, or think that a facility has treated you or someone you know unfairly, please feel free to give us a call.