Question: My mother is 85 and in the nursing home. She is running low on funds and may soon need to qualify for Medicaid to help pay for her care. I have heard about the drastic cuts to Medicaid in the BBBA. How will this affect my mother?
Answer: Please do not worry about the changes made to Medicaid and your mother’s situation. The changes in the BBBA include:
- The equity you can have in your home when you qualify for Medicaid has increased to $1,000,000, so if your mother is at home on a Medicaid waiver, she can own a home worth $1,000,000 and still qualify for Medicaid.
- Starting January 1, 2027, states must impose work requirements for beneficiaries aged 19-64. Disabled, pregnant, and medically fragile adults are exempt from this requirement.
- Starting July 1, 2028, the Secretary of Health & Human Services can let states offer Medicaid Home and Community Based Services without verifying a person needs nursing home level of care. This will allow states more flexibility to allow folks to stay at home before their health gets worse.
- There are funding cuts involving complicated funding formulas involving taxes on health care providers.
The important fact is the changes in the BBBA you have heard about on television news will not directly hurt your mother. However, for younger individuals who participate in the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP), decreases in federal funding over the next two years under the BBBA have the potential to result in reductions in services or loss of coverage entirely.
Respectfully submitted,
Keith P. Huffman
July 2025