Relates to filing in surrogate's court

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Luis Sepúlveda

Increases the monthly personal needs allowance for Medicaid long-term care residents to $113.42, with shortfalls paid in advance; future hikes tie to SSI-like boosts.

PRINT NUMBER 887A

Summary — S.887 (Print 887A): "An Act increasing the personal needs allowance for long term care residents"

Note: The bill text provided is Massachusetts Senate No. 887 (filed Jan. 17, 2025) titled "An Act increasing the personal needs allowance for long term care residents." Some metadata supplied with your request (alternate bill title, sponsors) appears inconsistent with that text; the summary below reflects the bill language in the Massachusetts filing.

Purpose

To raise the monthly personal needs allowance (PNA) that Medicaid/medical assistance recipients in long‑term care and similar licensed facilities are permitted to keep from their income for clothing, toiletries, and leisure/personal items, and to index that allowance to annual increases in state supplemental payments.

Key provisions

Increases the PNA for people who are not maintaining their own home and who are receiving care in eligible licensed facilities to $113.42 per month.

Applies to residents of licensed nursing facilities, licensed chronic hospitals, licensed rest homes, approved public medical institutions (per chapter 118E §8), and public psychiatric institutions.
Also applies to persons in licensed medical facilities eligible for medical assistance payments (chapter 118E) or residing in licensed rest homes to which they pay a fixed rate.

If a resident’s monthly income is less than $113.42, the resident shall be paid the difference monthly in advance.

Requires the $113.42 amount to be increased each fiscal year at the same time and by the same percentage as increases payable to individuals who maintain their own home and receive state supplementary payments under sections 1 and 2 of chapter 118A.

Amends multiple statutes:

Chapter 117A, §1 (replace paragraph with new PNA language).
Chapter 118A (insert new §7B).
Chapter 118E, §15 (replace paragraph and update a prior $72.80 figure to $113.42).

Who is affected

Medicaid/medical assistance recipients living in licensed long‑term care settings (nursing homes, chronic hospitals, rest homes, certain public medical/psychiatric institutions) in Massachusetts.

Long‑term care facilities will need to follow the revised allowance/payment practice.

State Medicaid/medical assistance program budgets may be affected because the Commonwealth pays the advance when an individual’s income is below the PNA.

Fiscal and policy considerations

Increasing the PNA raises the disposable income available to institutionalized Medicaid recipients for personal items and activities.

The state will likely incur additional costs to pay shortfalls for residents whose income is below the new PNA; the bill ties future increases to existing supplemental payment adjustments to maintain parity over time. The bill text does not include an appropriation or explicit fiscal estimate.

Procedural status (selected milestones from provided record)

Filed: Jan 17, 2025 (Senate Docket No. 2385).

Introduced/Read twice: March 6, 2025; referred to committee(s).

Print number assigned: 887A (May 20, 2025).

Hearing scheduled: July 1, 2025 (Gardner Auditorium).

Reported favorably by committee and referred to Senate Ways & Means: Nov 6, 2025 (accompanied by S482).

If you want, I can:
- Produce a side‑by‑side comparison showing current statutory PNA and the proposed changes by statute/section; or
- Draft a short analysis estimating potential fiscal impact using available census data on Medicaid long‑term care residents.