Flinn Report. Illinois Regulation

              Illinois Regulation is a summary of the weekly regulatory decisions of State agencies published in the Illinois Register and action
taken by the Illinois General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. Illinois Regulation is designed to inform and
involve the public in changes taking place in agency administration.
VOL. 35 Issue 46
Regulation Illinois
(cont'd page 4)
New Regulations
Proposed
Regulations
NEW REGULATIONS: Rules adopted by agencies this week.
PROPOSED REGULATIONS: Rules proposed by agencies this week, commencing a 45-day First Notice period. Public comments must be accepted
by the agency for the period of time indicated.
􀀩􂤺: Symbol designating rules of special interest to small businesses, small municipalities, and not-for-profit corporations. Agencies are required to consider
comments from these groups and minimize the regulatory burden on them.
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS/RULE TEXT: Direct mail or phone calls to the agency personnel listed below each summary. Providing volume and issue number
of The Flinn Report or the Illinois Register will expedite the process. Some agencies charge copying fees. However, copy requests do not have to
be made under the Freedom of Information Act .
The Flinn
Report
(cont'd next page )
November 14, 2011
Claire B. Eberle, Editor Joint Committee on Administrative Rules 700 Stratton Office Bldg., Springfield IL 62706
Elaine Spencer, Assoc. Editor Illinois General Assembly 217/785-2254 ilga.gov/commission/jcar
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MEDICAID LONG-TERM CARE
The DEPARTMENT OF HEALTHCARE
AND FAMILY SERVICES adopted
amendments to "Medical Assistance
Programs" (89 Ill Adm Code 120; 34 Ill
Reg 11664), effective 1/1/12, to imple-ment
provisions of the federal Deficit
Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) concern-ing
Medicaid assistance for long-term
care. These amendments, which have
undergone numerous changes since
1st Notice, change the criteria for re-viewing
transfers of money, property,
or other assets made on or after 1/1/
07 by persons who apply for long-term
care assistance on or after 1/1/
12. (Asset transfers for which an appli-cant
receives less than the fair market
value in cash, property, or other goods
may be disallowed if the applicant
fails to prove that the transfer was
made for a reason other than to accel-erate
eligibility for Medicaid. If asset
transfers are disallowed, the applicant
may be denied assistance for a pen-alty
period equal to the length of time
the applicant could have paid for his
or her own care with the transferred
assets.) The "look-back period" for
scrutiny of transfers is now 60 months
prior to application (formerly 36
months), and the penalty period for
disallowed transfers will begin when
the applicant would otherwise have
become eligible for Medicaid (instead
of when the asset transfer took place).
Multiple disallowed asset transfers
during the look-back period must be
added to determine the total penalty
period. If an applicant holds a quali-fying
long-term care insurance policy,
DHFS will disregard the person's as-sets,
and impose no penalty for asset
transfers, up to the amount of cover-age
the policy provides. The rule-making
also lists criteria for evaluat-ing
asset transfers at less than fair
market value; sets new criteria for
evaluating trusts, annuities, life es-tates,
loans, home equity, farmland,
and other types of assets or asset
transfers; and establishes a process
for obtaining hardship waivers of pen-alty
periods. Changes since 1st Notice
include allowing persons who made
transfers prior to 11/1/11 to obtain
hardship waivers of any resulting pen-alties
if they attest that they relied
upon DHFS rules in effect at the time
of the transfers. Also, for disallowed
transfers made prior to 1/1/12, return-ing
any portion of the transfer will
reduce the penalty period. (For trans-fers
on or after that date, only full
returns affect the penalty period once
the penalty has started.) The limit on
CHILD CARE
The DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN
SERVICES proposed amendments to
"Child Care" (89 Ill Adm Code 50; 35 Ill
Reg 18475) limiting the number of
times a family may receive child care
assistance while seeking employment
or between school semesters. Fami-lies
eligible for child care services
(CCS) are limited to utilizing these
provisions no more than 3 times in any
12 month period and payments will
not be approved if the child does not
attend day care. The rulemaking re-quires
a CCS recipient to report loss
of employment or break in an ap-proved
activity (e.g., school) within
10 days after the date of loss or break
in activity. The rulemaking also re-peals
provisions offering an extension
of CCS for job search activities paid
for with ARRA funding and limits the
job search grace period for child care
assistance provided by an approved
Child Care Collaboration Program to
one 90-day job search in a 12-month
period. The rulemaking also updates
DHS' Child Care Bureau's mailing ad-dress.
Child care providers will be
affected by this rulemaking.
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