You may be responsible for your parents’ healthcare bills
What is filial responsibility?
Many states have laws requiring adult children to be financially responsible for their parents’ basic needs when the parents lack the means to pay for them themselves. The extent of this responsibility can vary from state to state. Long-term care facilities and other care providers can utilize these laws as a means to seek reimbursement from adult children for unpaid bills.
Example of a filial responsibility law
Filial responsibility laws were rarely enforced in the past, but that changed in 2012 in Pennsylvania.
States with filial responsibility laws
As of 2021, more than half of the states and Puerto Rico hold adult children financially responsible in some way. These states include Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Federal law
Federal law prohibits healthcare facilities from requiring payment guarantees from third parties as a condition of acceptance, and patients cannot be “dumped” due to a lack of such guarantees. However, the federal Medicaid estate recovery program allows states to consider a patient’s assets for the recovery of benefits after the patient’s death.
How might COVID-19 affect filial responsibilities?
As filial responsibility laws may require adult children to pay for their sick parents’ expenses, the COVID-19 pandemic could bring these laws to the forefront. The disease disproportionately affects the elderly, with those aged 65 to 74 being five times more likely to be hospitalized than those aged 18 to 29, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For those aged 75 to 84, that number is eight times. A simple doctor visit may not trigger filial responsibility. “At least for the elderly, most of them have Medicare and supplements that cover their medical bills,” says John Ross, an elder law attorney at Ross & Sholomir and host of the Aging Insight radio and TV show. However, Ross sees a greater potential for filial responsibility issues when it comes to long-term care during the pandemic. “We’ve seen many people accumulating nursing home bills due to patient overflow and the lack of information for family members to apply for Medicaid.” This creates a difficult situation where patient bills pile up, but family members may not have the resources to pay them – and the debt continues to grow. “It’s the unreimbursed medical expenses like those that typically show filial responsibilities,” Ross concludes.
Updated by Brandon Renfro
Sources:
– LegiScan. “Maryland State Senate Bill 676, 2017.”
– Sesha Kethineni and Gowtami Rajendran. “Elder Care in the United States: Filial Responsibility Laws, Judicial Decisions, and Enforcement Issues,” Page 80. Journal of Criminal Justice and Law.
– Sesha Kethineni and Gowtami Rajendran. “Elder Care in the United States: Filial Responsibility Laws, Judicial Decisions, and Enforcement Issues,” Pages 73-74. Journal of Criminal Justice and Law.
– Code of Federal Regulations. “42 CFR §483.15.”
– Eleventh Judicial District Court, Flathead County, Montana. “Heritage Place, Inc. v. Jerry A. Jarrell, Cause No. DV-11-430(D).”
– Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “Estate Recovery.”
– U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Older Adults,” see “Age Increases Risk for Hospitalization.”
Source:
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/what-is-filial-responsibility-3974828
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