DocketNumber: 18-P-324
Citation Numbers: 123 N.E.3d 800, 94 Mass. App. Ct. 1120
Filed Date: 2/4/2019
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/24/2022
In February, 2017, the decedent, Joseph M. Fungaroli, died of complications from lung cancer at the age of fifty-nine. Thereafter, his son Joseph J. Fungaroli was appointed as personal representative of his estate. In May, 2017, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) filed notice of a claim against the estate in the amount of $ 163,073.87, for medical costs that MassHealth paid on the decedent's behalf from April, 2014, through February, 2015.
EOHHS moved for summary judgment on its complaint. See Mass. R. Civ. P. 56,
On appeal, the personal representative argues that summary judgment should not have been allowed because there is a genuine dispute over whether the $ 163,073.87 was "correctly paid." "We review the allowance of a motion for summary judgment de novo to determine whether the moving party has established that, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the opposing party, 'there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law' " (citation omitted). Scarlett v. Boston,
We agree with EOHSS that use of the term "correctly paid" in G. L. c. 118E, § 31, does not create an additional exception to the criteria for recovery from the estates of beneficiaries age fifty-five and over. Here, it is undisputed that the decedent was over fifty-five years old from April, 2014, through February, 2015, when MassHealth paid $ 163,073.87 in medical costs on his behalf. Therefore, under the statute, EOHSS has the right to recover those benefits.
Judgment affirmed.
EOHHS is the State agency responsible for administering the Commonwealth's Medicaid program, which is known as MassHealth. See G. L. c. 118E, §§ 1, 9, 9A ; Daley v. Secretary of Executive Office of Health & Human Servs.,
Additionally, the recovery provisions of § 31 (b ) apply only where, as here, the decedent in question died on or after April 1, 1995.
EOHHS is also required by Federal law to recover those benefits. See 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(b)(1)(B) (2012).
Other arguments raised by the personal representative, but not discussed in our decision, "have not been overlooked. We find nothing in them that requires discussion." Commonwealth v. Domanski,