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Senate committee advances bill to raise personal-needs allowance for nursing-home residents
Summary
The Senate Health Committee released S-3319 after testimony from residents and caregivers urging an increase in the monthly personal-needs allowance for Medicaid long-term care residents from $50 to about $140, indexed annually to federal benefit rates.
A New Jersey Senate Health and Human Services Committee hearing on Oct. 7 advanced legislation to increase the monthly personal needs allowance (PNA) for Medicaid residents in long-term care facilities.
Stacy Moore, calling into the committee, said she suffered a spinal cord injury in 2007 and now lives in a nursing home. Moore testified that New Jersey's current PNA of $50 leaves residents without funds for phone service, hair care and other basic personal expenses. "Right now...we only receive $50 a month out of our pension, Social Security and disability checks," she said, asking the committee to set the allowance at 15% of the federal benefit rate, which she said would be about $140 this year and adjusted annually for cost-of-living increases.
Family caregivers also urged the change. Sylvia Ellis, who said she cares daily for her paralyzed mother-in-law, described paying out-of-pocket for toiletries, sheets and other items not reliably provided by facilities and said that a higher PNA would ease caregiver burden.
Committee members noted wide variation among states' PNAs — from as low as $40 in some states to as high as $200 in others — and several members said the proposed increase was appropriate given New Jersey's cost of living. The chair read a list of organizations supporting the bill, including Disability Rights New Jersey, AARP and the Arc of New Jersey. After a motion and roll-call, the committee released S-3319 to the next stage.
The committee did not amend the bill during the hearing. Supporters asked that any new PNA be indexed annually so it keeps pace with federal benefit rates and inflation. The next steps will be the formal committee report and scheduling for floor consideration.
The committee's action came amid broader discussion of long-term care costs and caregiver strain, with lawmakers pointing to the practical costs families face when facilities do not supply small but recurring personal items.
