Nursing Home Residents' Personal Needs Allowance (PNA) Adequacy Act
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2006-02-27 12:05:00-05:00
Senate Bill 491
AARP Kansas 2006 Legislative Priority
We call them the Greatest Generation—our parents, our grandparents, our friends and neighbors. Most are now in their eighties and nineties, and many find themselves in nursing homes and on Medicaid.
They've given over their Social Security check and all of their retirement income to pay for their care.
Since 1988, these residents have been allowed to keep only $30 of their own money each month to pay for personal items like phone service, clothing, and birthday cards—things that keep them connected with family and friends.
This proposed legislation will raise the personal needs allowance for nursing home residents from $30 to $50 per month.
When nursing home residents become eligible for Kansas Medicaid, they must turn over almost all of their income to the nursing home as a contribution to the cost of their own care. Medicaid then pays the balance of the nursing home expense.
Federal law allows the resident to retain $30 each month of his or her income as a "personal needs allowance" (PNA). The PNA is to be used to cover the costs of clothing, personal care items, telephone service, postage and similar expenses. The adequacy of the PNA can determine whether an elderly resident is able to buy and mail a birthday card to a grandchild, or stay in touch with friends by phone.
The $30 PNA amount was set by federal law in 1988 and has not been increased since. States have the option of raising the rate, and a majority of states have done so, recognizing that the federal minimum is no longer adequate to afford nursing home residents a minimum level of comfort and dignity.
AARP believes this bill will bring Kansas into line with the majority of states and adjust the PNA by an amount that approximates the rate of inflation since 1988. If adjusted for inflation since the federal PNA minimum was established in 1974, it would be over $100 today.
It's been $30 for 18 years, and for all that this generation has given to Kansas, it is time to give them something in return—a little more of the dignity they deserve.
Kansas is one of only 11 states that have not increased PNA allowances for nursing home residents on Medicaid. A dollar a day is not OK. Let's raise the PNA. It's time.
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