FTC: Some nursing homes attempting to take Medicaid patients stimulus checks
Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Photo by: Eric Gay/AP By: Alex Hider Posted at 9:32 AM, May 19, 2020 The FTC says it is investigating reports of nursing homes across the country that are illegally seizing the stimulus checks of their residents on Medicaid. According to a blog post on the FTC website, Lois Greisman — the agency's Elder Justice Coordinator — says several state attorneys general, including Iowa AG Tom Miller, have received complaints that nursing homes are withholding their patients $1,200 stimulus checks. According to Greisman, the nursing homes claim that they are entitled to the money because the patients are on Medicaid, and because the checks are federal funds, the money should be signed over to the facility to pay for their care. However, Greisman pointed out in her post that according to the CARES Act, the stimulus checks are considered a "tax credit" — meaning they can't be seized by the government. "Tax law says that tax credits don't count as "resources" for federal benefits programs, like Medicaid," Greisman wrote. "So: when Congress calls these payments "tax credits" in the CARES Act, that means the government can't seize them. Greisman said that anyone with a loved one facing such a similar situation should first contact their state attorney general. Anyone still having trouble can reach out to the FTC directly.
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AuthorJeff Sodoma, MPA, Esq. is a lawyer based in Virginia Beach, Virginia Blog!Hello, there! Welcome to my blog. I will use this blog as a platform for my writing. I will write about topics in the legal world, certainly, as well as everything else under the sun, because I have many interests (and viewpoints). All views expressed in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are mine alone. One of my interests is music--my wife believes that I should go on "Beat Shazam" because I know so many songs--and I will be, from time to time, analyzing song lyrics and how they relate to the legal world.
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