(a) The Commissioner of Social Services, after consultation with the Commissioner of Mental Health and Addiction Services and the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, may provide, within available appropriations, payments to long-term care facilities for the care of certain illegal immigrants who were admitted to a long-term care facility before July 1, 2011. Payments may be made to cover the costs of care, as well as other incidentals as determined by the Commissioner of Social Services, for illegal immigrants who have been admitted to an acute care or psychiatric hospital and for whom services available in a long-term care facility are an appropriate and cost-effective alternative. Such individuals must be otherwise eligible for Medicaid, have resided in this state for at least five years and be unable to return to their country of origin due to medical illness or regulations barring reentry of persons who are ill or disabled or based upon a decision by the Immigration and Naturalization Service not to proceed with deportation.

(b) The Commissioner of Social Services shall implement the policies and procedures necessary to carry out the provisions of subsection (a) of this section while in the process of adopting such policies and procedures in regulation form, provided notice of intent to adopt the regulations is published in the Connecticut Law Journal within twenty days after implementation. Such policies and procedures shall be valid until the time final regulations are effective.

(P.A. 98-239, S. 7, 35; P.A. 99-279, S. 15, 45; P.A. 11-44, S. 119.)

History: P.A. 98-239 effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 99-279 amended Subsec. (a) to provide that payments may cover the costs of other incidentals as determined by the Commissioner of Social Services for illegal immigrants, effective June 29, 1999; P.A. 11-44 amended Subsec. (a) by adding as condition for payment that illegal immigrants were admitted to long-term care facility before July 1, 2011, effective June 13, 2011.