Share:
House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 1, 2024 11:44 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Kristine C. Howard |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Stop Bankrupting Pennsylvanians Over Family Medical Bills |
| Filial responsibility laws oblige a person’s children, spouse, and parents to protect, care for, and support impoverished family members, thus holding family members financially responsible for medical expenses. This is by no means a hypothetical concern: in the 2012 case of Health Care & Retirement Corporation of America v. Pittas, the Superior Court ruled that corporate nursing homes can sue the children of patients for outstanding medical bills. Given that Pennsylvania nursing homes average a cost of nearly $400 per day, this can quickly lead to bankruptcies. Filial responsibility laws first emerged in the 17th century and became common in the colonies. While they have generally fallen out of favor elsewhere, Pennsylvania stands as the only state to have enforced its filial responsibility law in the past 25 years. To update our laws for the 21st century, I will soon introduce legislation modernizing our filial responsibility laws to ensure spouses, children, and parents are only held liable for outstanding medical bills if the indigent individual has colluded with the family member to hide assets within the past five years, or if the family member fails to cooperate in the Medical Assistance process. Pennsylvania’s outlier status in this regard is shameful, and I look forward to your support in eliminating this antiquated and abhorrent practice. |
Introduced as HB2094