HB4734 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB093 19942 DRJ 45686 b

93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2003 and 2004
HB4734

Introduced 02/04/04, by Karen May

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

20 ILCS 105/4.02

from Ch. 23, par. 6104.02

Amends the Illinois Act on the Aging. In provisions for a community care program of services to prevent unnecessary institutionalization of persons age 60 and older, provides that the Department on Aging's eligibility standards for the services must include a provision that, to be eligible for services, a person may not have assets totaling more than $15,000 in FY05, $17,500 in FY06, and $20,000 in FY07 if (i) the person is unmarried or (ii) the person is married and the person or the person's spouse meets certain criteria. Provides that if the person is married and the person's spouse does not receive community care services, the person may not have assets totaling more than the asset disregard amount used by the Department of Public Aid in determining eligibility for medical assistance under the Illinois Public Aid Code. Provides that a person who does not meet the eligibility standards for services to prevent unnecessary institutionalization because of excess assets may establish eligibility for those services by paying a monthly amount to the Department on Aging as a spend-down or deductible. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT in relation to aging.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Illinois Act on the Aging is amended by changing Section 4.02 as follows:

(20 ILCS 105/4.02) (from Ch. 23, par. 6104.02)

Sec. 4.02. The Department shall establish a program of services to prevent unnecessary institutionalization of persons age 60 and older in need of long term care or who are established as persons who suffer from Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder under the Alzheimer's Disease Assistance Act, thereby enabling them to remain in their own homes or in other living arrangements. Such preventive services, which may be coordinated with other programs for the aged and monitored by area agencies on aging in cooperation with the Department, may include, but are not limited to, any or all of the following:

(a) home health services;

(b) home nursing services;

(c) homemaker services;

(d) chore and housekeeping services;

(e) day care services;

(f) home-delivered meals;

(g) education in self-care;

(h) personal care services;

(i) adult day health services;

(j) habilitation services;

(k) respite care;

(l) other nonmedical social services that may enable the person to become self-supporting; or

(m) clearinghouse for information provided by senior citizen home owners who want to rent rooms to or share living space with other senior citizens.

The Department shall establish eligibility standards for such services taking into consideration the unique economic and social needs of the target population for whom they are to be provided. The eligibility standards must include a provision that, to be eligible for services under this Section, a person may not have assets (other than specifically exempt assets) totaling more than $15,000 in the State fiscal year beginning July 1, 2004, $17,500 in the State fiscal year beginning July 1, 2005, and $20,000 in the State fiscal year beginning July 1, 2006 if:

(1) the person is unmarried; or

(2) the person is married and the Department determines that:

(A) the person's spouse receives services under this Section; or

(B) the person's spouse resides in a skilled nursing or intermediate long-term care facility that is subject to licensure by the Department of Public Health under the Nursing Home Care Act; or

(C) the person's spouse does not reside on a permanent basis with the person and does not receive support from or give support to the person; or

(D) the person has been abandoned by his or her spouse; or

(E) the person has been the subject of a report of abuse (as defined in the Elder Abuse and Neglect Act) by his or her spouse.

Notwithstanding the preceding paragraph, the eligibility standards must include a provision that, to be eligible for services under this Section, a person who is married and whose spouse does not receive services under this Section may not have assets (other than specifically exempt assets) totaling more than the asset disregard amount used by the Department of Public Aid in determining eligibility for medical assistance under Article V of the Illinois Public Aid Code. A person who does not meet the eligibility standards for services under this Section because of excess assets may establish eligibility for those services by paying a monthly amount to the Department as a spend-down or deductible. The Department shall establish appropriate procedures to permit payment of such amounts as a spend-down or deductible.

Such eligibility standards shall be based on the recipient's ability to pay for services; provided, however, that in determining the amount and nature of services for which a person may qualify, consideration shall not be given to the value of cash, property or other assets held in the name of the person's spouse pursuant to a written agreement dividing marital property into equal but separate shares or pursuant to a transfer of the person's interest in a home to his spouse, provided that the spouse's share of the marital property is not made available to the person seeking such services.

Beginning July 1, 2002, the Department shall require as a condition of eligibility that all financially eligible applicants and recipients apply for medical assistance under Article V of the Illinois Public Aid Code in accordance with rules promulgated by the Department.

The Department shall, in conjunction with the Department of Public Aid, seek appropriate amendments under Sections 1915 and 1924 of the Social Security Act. The purpose of the amendments shall be to extend eligibility for home and community based services under Sections 1915 and 1924 of the Social Security Act to persons who transfer to or for the benefit of a spouse those amounts of income and resources allowed under Section 1924 of the Social Security Act. Subject to the approval of such amendments, the Department shall extend the provisions of Section 5-4 of the Illinois Public Aid Code to persons who, but for the provision of home or community-based services, would require the level of care provided in an institution, as is provided for in federal law. Those persons no longer found to be eligible for receiving noninstitutional services due to changes in the eligibility criteria shall be given 60 days notice prior to actual termination. Those persons receiving notice of termination may contact the Department and request the determination be appealed at any time during the 60 day notice period. With the exception of the lengthened notice and time frame for the appeal request, the appeal process shall follow the normal procedure. In addition, each person affected regardless of the circumstances for discontinued eligibility shall be given notice and the opportunity to purchase the necessary services through the Community Care Program. If the individual does not elect to purchase services, the Department shall advise the individual of alternative services. The target population identified for the purposes of this Section are persons age 60 and older with an identified service need. Priority shall be given to those who are at imminent risk of institutionalization. The services shall be provided to eligible persons age 60 and older to the extent that the cost of the services together with the other personal maintenance expenses of the persons are reasonably related to the standards established for care in a group facility appropriate to the person's condition. These non-institutional services, pilot projects or experimental facilities may be provided as part of or in addition to those authorized by federal law or those funded and administered by the Department of Human Services. The Departments of Human Services, Public Aid, Public Health, Veterans' Affairs, and Commerce and Economic Opportunity Community Affairs and other appropriate agencies of State, federal and local governments shall cooperate with the Department on Aging in the establishment and development of the non-institutional services. The Department shall require an annual audit from all chore/housekeeping and homemaker vendors contracting with the Department under this Section. The annual audit shall assure that each audited vendor's procedures are in compliance with Department's financial reporting guidelines requiring a 27% administrative cost split and a 73% employee wages and benefits cost split. The audit is a public record under the Freedom of Information Act. The Department shall execute, relative to the nursing home prescreening project, written inter-agency agreements with the Department of Human Services and the Department of Public Aid, to effect the following: (1) intake procedures and common eligibility criteria for those persons who are receiving non-institutional services; and (2) the establishment and development of non-institutional services in areas of the State where they are not currently available or are undeveloped. On and after July 1, 1996, all nursing home prescreenings for individuals 60 years of age or older shall be conducted by the Department.

The Department is authorized to establish a system of recipient copayment for services provided under this Section, such copayment to be based upon the recipient's ability to pay but in no case to exceed the actual cost of the services provided. Additionally, any portion of a person's income which is equal to or less than the federal poverty standard shall not be considered by the Department in determining the copayment. The level of such copayment shall be adjusted whenever necessary to reflect any change in the officially designated federal poverty standard.

The Department, or the Department's authorized representative, shall recover the amount of moneys expended for services provided to or in behalf of a person under this Section by a claim against the person's estate or against the estate of the person's surviving spouse, but no recovery may be had until after the death of the surviving spouse, if any, and then only at such time when there is no surviving child who is under age 21, blind, or permanently and totally disabled. This paragraph, however, shall not bar recovery, at the death of the person, of moneys for services provided to the person or in behalf of the person under this Section to which the person was not entitled; provided that such recovery shall not be enforced against any real estate while it is occupied as a homestead by the surviving spouse or other dependent, if no claims by other creditors have been filed against the estate, or, if such claims have been filed, they remain dormant for failure of prosecution or failure of the claimant to compel administration of the estate for the purpose of payment. This paragraph shall not bar recovery from the estate of a spouse, under Sections 1915 and 1924 of the Social Security Act and Section 5-4 of the Illinois Public Aid Code, who precedes a person receiving services under this Section in death. All moneys for services paid to or in behalf of the person under this Section shall be claimed for recovery from the deceased spouse's estate. "Homestead", as used in this paragraph, means the dwelling house and contiguous real estate occupied by a surviving spouse or relative, as defined by the rules and regulations of the Illinois Department of Public Aid, regardless of the value of the property.

The Department shall develop procedures to enhance availability of services on evenings, weekends, and on an emergency basis to meet the respite needs of caregivers. Procedures shall be developed to permit the utilization of services in successive blocks of 24 hours up to the monthly maximum established by the Department. Workers providing these services shall be appropriately trained.

Beginning on the effective date of this Amendatory Act of 1991, no person may perform chore/housekeeping and homemaker services under a program authorized by this Section unless that person has been issued a certificate of pre-service to do so by his or her employing agency. Information gathered to effect such certification shall include (i) the person's name, (ii) the date the person was hired by his or her current employer, and (iii) the training, including dates and levels. Persons engaged in the program authorized by this Section before the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1991 shall be issued a certificate of all pre- and in-service training from his or her employer upon submitting the necessary information. The employing agency shall be required to retain records of all staff pre- and in-service training, and shall provide such records to the Department upon request and upon termination of the employer's contract with the Department. In addition, the employing agency is responsible for the issuance of certifications of in-service training completed to their employees.

The Department is required to develop a system to ensure that persons working as homemakers and chore housekeepers receive increases in their wages when the federal minimum wage is increased by requiring vendors to certify that they are meeting the federal minimum wage statute for homemakers and chore housekeepers. An employer that cannot ensure that the minimum wage increase is being given to homemakers and chore housekeepers shall be denied any increase in reimbursement costs.

The Department on Aging and the Department of Human Services shall cooperate in the development and submission of an annual report on programs and services provided under this Section. Such joint report shall be filed with the Governor and the General Assembly on or before September 30 each year.

The requirement for reporting to the General Assembly shall be satisfied by filing copies of the report with the Speaker, the Minority Leader and the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the President, the Minority Leader and the Secretary of the Senate and the Legislative Research Unit, as required by Section 3.1 of the General Assembly Organization Act and filing such additional copies with the State Government Report Distribution Center for the General Assembly as is required under paragraph (t) of Section 7 of the State Library Act.

Those persons previously found eligible for receiving non-institutional services whose services were discontinued under the Emergency Budget Act of Fiscal Year 1992, and who do not meet the eligibility standards in effect on or after July 1, 1992, shall remain ineligible on and after July 1, 1992. Those persons previously not required to cost-share and who were required to cost-share effective March 1, 1992, shall continue to meet cost-share requirements on and after July 1, 1992. Beginning July 1, 1992, all clients will be required to meet eligibility, cost-share, and other requirements and will have services discontinued or altered when they fail to meet these requirements.

(Source: P.A. 92-597, eff. 6-28-02; 93-85, eff. 1-1-04; revised 12-6-03.)

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.