House panel advances bill to raise nursing-home personal-needs allowance from $38 to $50

The House Committee on Health and Welfare on April 29 reported House Bill 266 favorably, a bill that would raise the monthly personal-needs allowance paid to nursing-home residents in Louisiana from $38 to $50.

The bill's sponsor told the committee that residents use the allowance for clothing, preferred toiletries, snacks and other small personal expenses. "What each person in the state of Louisiana who is a resident of a nursing home gets is $38 a month for personal needs," the sponsor said when introducing the measure.

The sponsor said the change would raise the allowance by $12 and move Louisiana closer to the national median; committee staff and the sponsor discussed outreach to industry stakeholders during the presentation. A fiscal note shared during the hearing put the state share of the change at less than $900,000 per year over the next five years; the sponsor said about 70% of the funding related to these payments is federal (the FMAP) and that the remaining share would be state general fund.

Committee members did not request amendments and there was no extended opposition recorded. Representative Fisher made a motion to report the bill favorable; no objection was recorded and the committee reported HB 266 favorable.

Next steps: HB 266 will proceed through the House process with the committee recommendation in place. The bill text directs the Louisiana Department of Health to take implementation steps if the funding is in place, and the sponsor said he was open to amendments later in the process.