HARTFORD, Conn. – Lawmakers and officials at the Department of Social Services are having a tough time adding up the cost of a proposal that would allow a person to keep more assets if their spouse ends up in a nursing home.

The bill, H.B. 5806, was debated early in the current session by the Human Services Committee. It would increase the minimum amount of marital assets for the spouse who remains in the community from $23,844 to $50,000. The couple’s home and car are, and would continue to be, excluded from the asset calculation.

Matthew Stillman, public policy chair of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, said this “is a bill to protect the community spouse.” And trying not to sound sexist, Stillman said, more often than not that community spouse is a woman whose husband is in a nursing home.

See the complete story at CT News Junkie.