While Medicaid recipients may have to sign over resources, in some circumstances, to the long-term care facilities where they reside, this does NOT apply to current federal economic impact payments, or ‘stimulus checks.’ 

Under the CARES Act, the stimulus checks are a tax credit. Tax credits do not count as income or resources for federal benefits programs, like Medicaid. Nursing homes, assisted living residences, and residential care homes cannot take that money from residents just because they are on Medicaid. Simply receiving a stimulus check should not change a resident’s monthly payment or cause a resident to have “too much” savings for Medicaid eligibility. Recipients may keep the stimulus payments, and nursing homes or other long-term care facilities may not seize them.

Anyone who believes a long-term care resident who receives Medicaid has lost their stimulus check to a nursing home, assisted living residence, or residential care home, should contact the Vermont Attorney General’s Consumer Assistance Program at 1-800-649-2424 or ago.cap@vermont.gov. You may also contact the Vermont Long-Term Care Ombudsman Project at (802) 863-5620 (Voice & TTY). Vermonters may also report to the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov. 

Here is more information on the rules relating to long-term care residents’ receipt of stimulus checks.