Reversing the state's appeals court, Michigan's highest court rules that the state can recover Medicaid benefits that were paid after the effective date of its estate recovery program but before the date that the program was implemented. In re Estate of Rasmer (Mich., No. 153356, July 31, 2017).
In 2007, Michigan enacted a law authorizing estate recovery, but the state could not implement the law until it received federal approval. Four individuals applied for Medicaid benefits sometime between 2007 and 2010. They did not receive any notification about estate recovery at the time of their initial application. In 2011, the state received federal approval for its estate recovery program. The federal government gave the state-plan amendments an effective date of July 1, 2010 and the state determined that July 1, 2011, was the program’s implementation date. In 2012, the Medicaid recipients applied for Medicaid redetermination and received notice that the state could seek recovery for Medicaid benefits from their estates.
When the recipients died, the state filed claims against their estates to recover Medicaid benefits paid since July 1, 2010, but the estates denied the claims. The probate court rejected the state's claim, and the state appealed. The estates argued that the state violated due process by recovering benefits paid since July 1, 2010, when the state did not notify them about the estate recovery program until 2012. The court of appeals held that while the notice provided to the estates in 2012 did not violate due process, the state could not recover benefits retroactive to July 1, 2010. The state appealed.
The Michigan Supreme Court reverses the Court of Appeals’ conclusion that the state could not recover for benefits paid from July 1, 2010, to July 1, 2011, the estate recovery act’s implementation date. According to the court, the estate recovery law made clear that anyone receiving benefits after September 30, 2007, was subject to estate recovery, but the state was required to provide written information "about that recovery only when it became possible to do so--once 'the provisions of' the recovery program had been approved by the federal government and could, in fact, be 'describ[ed].'" The court rules that the estate recovery law is "prospective, not retroactive, legislation because [the law] specifically provides that the [the law] applies only to events that postdate its September 2007 enactment."
For the full text of this decision, go to: https://courts.mi.gov/Courts/MichiganSupremeCourt/Clerks/Recent%20Opinions/16-17%20Term%20Opinions/153356.pdf
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