Via The Hill:
Two House Democratic committee chairmen are urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to issue guidance aimed at preventing nursing homes and assisted living facilities from seizing their residents’ coronavirus relief payments. “It is crucial that this vulnerable population group continues to have the certainty that comes with these [economic impact payments] and are not coerced into wrongly handing over their checks for fear of being kicked out of their homes,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) wrote in a letter Monday to CMS Administrator Seema Verma. Neal and Pallone noted in their letter that the payments are considered advanced payments of tax credits and can’t be counted as “income” or “resources” for Medicaid purposes. The Federal Trade Commission said last month that it has been hearing that some nursing homes and assisted living facilities are claiming that they are entitled to the payments of residents who are on Medicaid, demanding those residents sign over their payments to the facility.
Source/more: The Hill