HHS has issued a memo requiring all private Medicare plans give beneficiaries — including same-sex couples — access to equal coverage in nursing homes where their spouses live.
The memo is part of efforts to increase federal recognition of same-sex spouses following the Supreme Court's ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act, which barred federal employees from extending work health and retirement to their same-sex spouses, was unconstitutional.
Under current law, beneficiaries of private Medicare plans — known as Medicare Advantage plans — receive coverage for care in the skilled nursing facility their spouse lives in, if they meet other requirements for skilled nursing facility coverage. HHS has now clarified that this federal benefit applies equally to all married couples, according to a news release.
"Today, Medicare is ensuring that all beneficiaries will have equal access to coverage in a nursing home where their spouse lives, regardless of their sexual orientation," said CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner in the release. "Prior to this, a beneficiary in a same-sex marriage enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan did not have equal access to such coverage and, as a result, could have faced time away from his or her spouse or higher costs because of the way that marriage was defined for this purpose."
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