Palomba-Bourke v. Commissioner of Social Services

Summary

The court affirmed the judgment upholding the Department of Social Services’ determination that the plaintiff’s trust assets were deemed available to her institutionalized spouse for Medicaid eligibility purposes. It held that the spousal-resource rules enacted by the catastrophic coverage legislation apply to Medicaid applications filed after the legislation’s effective date, regardless of when the trust was created or became irrevocable. The court rejected the plaintiff’s reliance on earlier decisions as establishing a general rule requiring application of the law in effect when an asset was established.