The Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare recently proposed a “Family Responsibility Plan” which would impose a financial obligation upon adult children in the state for the nursing-home care of their parents who receive Medicaid. By examining the Massachusetts plan, this Note seeks to evaluate the viability of a concept of family responsibility, under which adult children contribute to the state Medicaid expenses of their medically indigent parents in nursing homes, as a means of combating the increase in state Medicaid expenditures. The Note examines the legal and policy issues raised by the Massachusetts welfare department's plan in particular, and by the concept of family responsibility in general. The author concludes that alternative methods of cost containment, such as positive financial incentives, would be more appropriate mechanisms for reducing state Medicaid expenditures than family—that is, adult child—responsibility plans.

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通过家庭责任减少医疗补助支出：对最近提案的批评

马萨诸塞州公共福利部最近提出了一项“家庭责任计划”，该计划将对该州的成年子女施加经济义务，以使其接受医疗补助的父母在养老院中得到照顾。通过审查马萨诸塞州的计划，本说明旨在评估家庭责任概念的可行性，根据该概念，成年子女为其在疗养院的医疗贫困父母的州医疗补助费用做出贡献，作为对抗州医疗补助支出增加的一种手段. 该说明特别审查了马萨诸塞州福利部门的计划以及一般家庭责任概念提出的法律和政策问题。作者得出结论，成本控制的替代方法，例如积极的财务激励，