Page 18 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2021 If you have any questions about this week’s report, e-mail us at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com or call us at (617) 720-1562. GET A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO MASSTERLIST - Join more than 22,000 people, from movers and shakers to political junkies and interested citizens, who start their weekday morning with MASSterList—the popular newsletter that chronicles news and informed analysis about what’s going on up on Beacon Hill, in Massachusetts politics, policy, media and infl uence. The stories are drawn from major news organizations as well as specialized publications selected by widely acclaimed and highly experienced writers Chris Van Buskirk and Keith Regan who introduce each article in their own clever and never-boring, inimitable way. MASSterlist will be e-mailed to you FREE every Monday through Friday morning and will give you a leg up on what’s happening in the blood sport of Bay State politics. For more information and to get your free subscription go to: www.massterlist.com/subscribe THE HOUSE AND SENATE: There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on the number of times in the 2021 session each senator sided with Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and voted to sustain the governor’s 25 vetoes of items, mostly in the fiscal 2022 state budget. A vote to sustain means the senator supports Baker’s veto. A vote to override means the senator voted to fund the item despite the governor’s veto. The current makeup of the Senate is 36 Democrats, three Republicans and one vacant seat. A twothirds vote is required to override a gubernatorial veto in a full 40-member Senate when there are no vacancies. The governor needs the support of 14 senators to sustain a veto if all 40 senators voted—and fewer votes if some members are absent or there are vacancies. Baker fell far short of that goal as six votes was the most support he received on any veto. The Senate easily overrode all 25 vetoes, including fi ve that were overridden unanimously. The vetoes had no support from 30 of the 36 Democrats who never once voted to sustain Baker’s veto. Only six Democratic senators voted to sustain any of the governor’s vetoes. The Democrat who voted the most times with Baker to sustain his veto is Sen. Walter Timilty (D-Milton) who voted with Baker four times. Sen. Marc Pacheco (D-Taunton) voted with Baker twice. Sens. Sonia Chang-Díaz (D-Boston), Diana DiZoglio (D-Methuen), Jason Lewis (D-Winchester) and Mike Rodrigues (D-Westport) each voted with Baker once. None of the three Republicans voted with Baker 100 percent of the time. The Republican senator who voted the greatest number of times with Baker was Sen. Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) who voted with Baker 17 times (68.0 percent of the time). Sen. Patrick O’Connor (R-Weymouth) voted with Baker only fi ve times (20.0 percent), the least number of times among Republicans. Even Republican Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) only supported Baker 14 times (56.0 percent). NUMBER OF TIMES SENATORS SUPPORTED GOV. BAKER’S VETOES IN 2021 Here is how your senator fared in his or her support of Baker on the vetoes. The percentage next to the senator’s name represents the percentage of times the senator supported Baker. The number in parentheses represents the actual number of times the senator supported Baker. Sen. Joseph Boncore has resigned HOW LONG WAS LAST WEEK’S SESSION? Beacon Hill Roll Call tracks the length of time that the House and Senate were in session each week. Many legislators say that legislative sessions are only one aspect of the Legislature’s job and that a lot of important work is done outside of the House and Senate chambers. They note that their jobs also involve committee work, research, constituent work and other matters that are important to their districts. Critics say that the Legislature does not meet regularly or long enough to debate and vote in public view on the thousands of pieces of legislation that have been fi led. They note that the infrequency and brief length of sessions are misguided and lead to irresponsible late-night sessions and a mad rush to act on dozens of bills in the days immediately preceding the end of an annual session. During the week of December 20-24, the House met for a total of one hour and 10 minutes and the Senate each met for a total of one hour and one minute. 24 minutes. Mon. Dec. 20 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:56 a.m. Senate 11:10 a.m. to 12:02 p.m. Tues. Dec. 21 No House session No Senate session Wed. Dec. 22 No House session No Senate session Thurs. Dec. 23 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:14 a.m. Senate 11:15 a.m. to 11:24 a.m. Fri. Dec. 24 No House session No Senate session Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com ~ Home of the Week ~ Lynn...Updated and sparkling 6 room Ranch View the interior of this home right on your smartphone. INCOME FIRST RULE M assHealth follows federal Medicaid regulations and therefore must provide a spouse who continues to live home, while his or her spouse resides in a nursing home and receives MassHealth benefits, with what is called the minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance (MMMNA). The current MMMNA is $2,177.50. Assume a husband is going into a nursing home and his combined monthly pension and social security income is $3,000. Ordinarily, his patient pay amount (PPA), the amount of his monthly income that would have to be paid to the nursing home each month, would be $2,727.20, which results from subtracting the personal needs allowance that MassHealth allows him to keep each month of $72.80 and his monthly health insurance premiums of $200 from $3,000.00. If his wife only has social security income of $750 per month, MassHealth will reallocate $1,427.50 of his monthly income to her to bring her up to the MMMNA fi gure of $2,177.50. Therefore, the actual amount the husband will pay to the nursing home each month will instead be $1,299.70. In addition to the MMMNA designed to provide a minimum amount of income to the spouse who stays at home and still needs to pay the house bills, food shopping bills, etc., Medicaid law also provides for a certain amount of otherwise countable assets to be kept in his or her name. That amount is currently set at $130,380. The spouse in the nursing home can only have $2,000 of countable assets in his or her name. Any excess assets must be spent on nursing home care unless steps are taking to protect those assets for the spouse at home to avoid his or her being impoverished. What are some of the steps that can be taken? Certainly, funds should be set aside towards irrevocable funeral contracts, cemetery plot and other expenses associated with your funeral arrangements. A separate “burial” account in the amount of $1,500 can be established at your bank for each spouse. Although this is not a large amount of money, it would still serve to fund a collation for the family after the funeral service for each of the spouses. A Medicaid annuity can be purchased in the name of the spouse who remains at home thereby providing him or her with additional monthly income to help pay for monthly bills. The annuity contract must be irrevocable, non-assignable and non-commutable. This strategy essentially converts countable assets that would otherwise be required to be spent down on nursing home care into a lifetime income stream for the spouse who stays at home. Furthermore, there is no fi ve-year look back period concern as transfers between spouses are not disqualifying transfers. It is always a good idea to plan ahead. However, there are last minute planning opportunities available depending upon the unique circumstances applicable to a particular family. Joseph D. Cataldo is an Estate Planning/Elder Law Attorney, Certifi ed Public Accountant, Certifi ed Financial Planner, AICPA Personal Financial Specialist and holds a Master’s Degree in Taxation. Discount Services -Raccoons -Squirrels 781-269-0914 Removal Like us on Facebook advocate newspaper Facebook.com/ Advocate.news.ma
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