WeVote
Log In

Bill

Bill

HB 6153

Health facilities: nursing homes; personal needs allowance for nursing home residents; increase. Amends sec. 106 of 1939 PA 280 (MCL 400.106) & adds sec. 106d.

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Ann Bollin

In Michigan, HB 6153 raises Medicaid nursing home residents’ monthly personal needs allowance to 90 and keeps subrogation, notices, and eligibility rules otherwise intact.

bill electronically reproduced 07/01/2026
#healthfacilities:nursinghomes #healthfacilities:patients
0
WeVote Research Nonpartisan
Bill Summary · HB 6153

Overview

  • Bill: HB 6153
  • Session: 2025-2026 (Michigan)
  • Jurisdiction: Michigan
  • Introduced: July 1, 2026 by Rep. Bollin; referred to Health Policy
  • Purpose: Increase the personal needs allowance for nursing home residents receiving medical assistance and clarify related provisions in the Social Welfare Act (Public Act 280 of 1939), as amended.

Main purpose and intent

  • To increase the monthly personal needs allowance for eligible nursing home residents receiving Medicaid (medical assistance).
  • Specifically adds a statutory requirement that the personal needs allowance be set at $90 per month.
  • Integrates the new allowance into the broader framework governing medical assistance, subrogation, and recovery of costs when third parties or insurers may be liable for covered services.

Key provisions and changes

  • Sec. 106d: Establishes a new provision that, starting on the effective date of the act that adds this section, the department must increase the personal needs allowance for an eligible individual in a nursing home to $90 per month.
  • Sec. 106(1)(b)(iii): Prior language already requiring a protected basic maintenance level for eligible individuals. The amendment explicitly anchors the addition of a $90 monthly personal needs allowance within the protected maintenance framework for nursing home residents.
  • Sec. 106a–106b, 106c: The bill references and builds on existing definitions related to medically indigent individuals, assets, income limits, and eligibility standards (e.g., SSI, SNAP/Family Independence Program, and other Title XIX categories). The core change remains the increased personal needs allowance; other provisions appear to stay aligned with current law, including asset and income tests, subrogation rights, and notice requirements.
  • Sec. 106(3)–(11): Administrative and subrogation procedures for reimbursement when the department or contracted health plans may have a right to recover expenses paid under the act. The bill retains requirements for notice, settlement disclosures, priority of recovery (department first, then contracted health plan), and penalties for attorney noncompliance.
  • Personal needs allowance definition (Sec. 106d(2)): Reaffirms that the personal needs allowance is the portion of a nursing home resident’s personal income that can be kept for personal needs.

Who is affected

  • Nursing home residents who receive medical assistance (Medicaid) and have personal income eligible for a personal needs allowance.
  • Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (the department) responsible for administering the personal needs allowance and the broader medical assistance/subrogation framework.
  • Contracted health plans (managed care organizations) under the department’s contracts, particularly in matters of cost recovery and subrogation.
  • Legal representatives, guardians, and attorneys involved in subrogation actions, given the notice and recovery provisions.

Procedural and timeline aspects

  • Effective date: The $90 per month personal needs allowance becomes effective on the date the amendatory act adding section 106d takes effect.
  • Subrogation and notice requirements: If a beneficiary or their counsel files complaints or settlements implicating subrogation, the department or the contracted health plan must be notified within specified timelines (30 days after filing; prior to settlement for actions involving settlement).
  • Penalties: Attorneys who knowingly fail to timely notify the department or plan could face a $1,000 civil fine per violation.
  • Recovery priorities: The department has first priority on net recoveries from settlements or judgments; contracted health plans follow; both aim to recover full documented expenses unless they agree to less. In some cases, the individual and plan may share net proceeds if the recovery would be less than expenses.
  • Asset and eligibility considerations: Maintains the existing asset/resource rules for determining eligibility (e.g., resource limits for singles and households, exemptions such as homestead, certain life insurance values, and burial plots). The new allowance sits within the protected basic maintenance level.

Practical impact

  • Beneficiaries in nursing homes who receive Medicaid will have a baseline of $90 per month available for personal needs, which can improve daily life and autonomy within the facility.
  • The change is targeted and monetary, with no broad overhaul of eligibility criteria or service coverage beyond the increased personal needs allowance.
  • Administrative and legal processes related to cost recovery from third parties remain intact, with explicit notification and timing obligations to secure the department’s subrogation rights.

If you’d like, I can provide a plain-language one-page briefing or a comparison table showing how this compares to prior personal needs allowance levels.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

Sign in to ask a question.