LM v. State, Div. of Med. Assist. & Health Serv.

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

STEIN, J.

The issue in this appeal arises from an elderly couple’s attempt to avoid the so-called “Medicaid Gap,” a term used to describe a level of income that is “just above the Medicaid cut-off yet too low to cover the cost of nursing home care.” Jill Quadagno et al., Falling into the Medicaid Gap: The Hidden Long-Term Care Dilemma, 31 The Gerontologist 521, 521 (1991). That is the quandary that confronted petitioner when he applied for Medicaid benefits to cover the cost of his nursing-home care. L.M.’s initial application for Medicaid benefits was…