In 2012, the Pennsylvania 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.
 
This legal obligation to support impoverished family members is known as filial obligation. These laws first emerged in England 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 plan to reintroduce legislation (formerly HB 2094) 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. I am proud to say, HB 2094 passed the House unanimously in October, but unfortunately the session ended before it could be considered in the Senate.
 
Pennsylvania’s outlier status in this regard is shameful, and I look forward to your support in eliminating this antiquated and abhorrent practice.
 
Prior Co-Sponsors: PROBST, VENKAT, SANCHEZ, OTTEN, CERRATO, CURRY, HILL-EVANS, FRIEL, WARREN, DALEY, DELLOSO, SCHLOSSBERG and KHAN.
 

Statutes/Laws affected:
Printer's No. 0028: 23-4602, 23-4603(a)