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Attorney General Steve Marshall is advising nursing home residents, as well as their family members, that those residents who are Medicaid recipients should be vigilant against having their federal stimulus payments improperly taken from them.
While Medicaid recipients may have to sign over resources, in some circumstances, to nursing homes where they reside, this does NOT apply to current federal stimulus checks from the CARES Act. Congress classified these monies as tax credits. Under tax law, tax credits do not count as “resources” for federal benefits programs. This means that recipients may keep the stimulus payments, and that they may not be seized by nursing homes.
“We are now beginning to receive a few reports of concern that some Alabama nursing homes may be attempting to take stimulus checks from residents who are Medicaid recipients. If this is happening, it needs to stop now,” said Attorney General Marshall. “These stimulus checks are rightfully and legally the property of the residents and must be returned. Confiscation of these checks is unlawful and should be reported to my office.”
If it is believed that a resident who is a Medicaid recipient has forfeited their stimulus check to a nursing home, they are encouraged to contact the Alabama Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit at mfcu@alabamaag.gov or call 334-242-7300.