Any payment of medical assistance by or through the Department of Social Services to an individual who is an inpatient in a nursing facility, an intermediate care facility for individuals with developmental disabilities, or other medical institution, is a debt due to the department. Any payment on behalf of any person fifty-five years of age or older for nursing facility services, home and community based services, intermediate care facility services for individuals with intellectual disabilities, hospital and prescription drug services, is a debt due the department. The Department of Social Services shall establish a system of recovery of medical assistance correctly paid by or through the department. The Department of Social Services may file a claim against the estate of the surviving spouse of a medical assistance recipient to satisfy the debt established under this section. The secretary of social services shall adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 1-26, to define the scope of recoveries, establish hardship limitations on recoveries, establish limits on recoveries, and provide rules required to obtain federal financial participation in the medical assistance program.

For the purposes of this section, a surviving spouse is a person who was married to the deceased medical assistance recipient when the recipient became eligible for medical assistance, who has not divorced the medical assistance recipient, and who has not remarried after the recipient’s death.

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Source: SL 1994, ch 229, § 7; SL 1997, ch 168, § 1; SL 2013, ch 125, § 12.