Yippee!! I am so happy, after over a year of getting our finances in order and applying we were approved for Medicaid today. This will mean I can put my DH in daycare more or get more in-home care. Whew, such a load off!
That is great! Mine gets covered 5 days a week by the elderly wavier program ( part of medicaid I believe) so I can work, what a blessing! Congrats! In a weird sorta way...
One less thing to worry about is also powerful. May the future be a little brighter and lighter for you!
I don't know much, if anything, about medicaid, but, Rosiek, I was told the same thing about ssdi. While H and I did deal with no income for several months, based on other circumstances, I was shocked at how quickly ssdi was approved.
Rosiek, The longest part was getting our finances "reallocated" so we would meet the financial guidelines. Both my DH and I had retirement accounts, so we had to cash them out and put it into our house. And do to tax implications we had to cash them out in 2 separate years so we wouldn't be paying a higher tax bracket. I would recommend a good Elder Care Attorney so that he can make sure you are where you need to be before you apply. Then they can help with the application process. Once you send it application it only takes about 2-3 months to get approved. There are 3 parts: written application, functional evaluation of applicant, financial review.
I'll let you know what happens from here once I find out myself! I do know it will help pay for DayCare, In-Home care, House Modifications, Transportation and Respite Care. (and eventually Long Term Care...) Shannon
Question for anyone..... Isit true that we need to have less than 2,000 in assets ( since we are married) to qualify...I know there are other qualifications required to receive Medicaid?
Thank you all for having this discussion at this time. And congratulations to Shannon.
I had an Elder Care Lawyer arrange all of our financials so I would know when I could qualify for help. I have been paying $5,500.00 per month for two years and I just can't continue this very much longer. Since I now live in a different state than I did, the DHS people here are not agreeing with the attorney. Because of this, I will have to consult another attorney in the state where I now reside.
This can sure be frustrating. Supposedly I can have a house and a car, but, I won't be able to buy gas for the car and pay the utility bills for the house.
I'm going through the process, too. Phone interview on Monday. No, it is not true that you can only have $2,000 in assets. There are qualifications you can find on-line, but I recommend using a Medicaid specialist Elder Care Attorney. Worth the $ to get things done correctly. I was surprised to learn after the initial "screening," they don't look at my $$ only have to keep tracks of hb's. So, I asked, "So, if I make $1 million next year, it doesn't matter"? "That's correct." No chance of that, but I can work and save $ for me. I will pay most of hb's social security to the facility, but he's allowed to have a certain amount for clothing, etc.
I was told just the opposite by two lawyers, one who specializes in elder care and one who specializes in estate planning.
One, I was told that H's pension is above medicaid allowance, and since it is a permanent pension, that is the end of that. At some time ALF or NH may take that as payment, but only a facility that accepts waiver payments and that is not all of them.
Two: I was told that my assets are not held separate, no matter how they are titled, that Medicaid considers spouse assets as "available".
I was told this: house of any value up to 750. Vehicle of any value. $109,000 other assets. Period, the end. No trusts, no exempts.
Either this is state specific or we all need to get Zibby's lawyer.
Probably depends on state and how things are held, but car, house and $109,000 are accurate. "Reallocating" as someone else has mentioned is key. My situation in getting this done was easier because Hb has no pension or savings because he worked in social services for different companies and withdrew and spent 403b's early in retirement.:( (We had many "conversations" over the years re his irresponsibility and I considered leaving several times. I knew early on I needed to take care of me and kids.) Only has low social security most of which now goes to nursing home and I gladly pay that. I did rollover my IRA into an irrevocable trust--special one--as spend down.
Medicaid laws vary by state. In NJ, the spouses assets (mine) are considered in the financial determination, even though they have never been co-mingled with any $$$ DH has saved/earned unless they are in an irrevocable trust. As our elder law attorney told me, you can stay in your house, keep your car but you won't have enough money to afford to keep them.
Yes, the asset amount outlined above is correct. It varies a little state-to-state, but generally that is what it is. We cashed out my DH's 401k's and I paid down on our house with it. We did have to pay taxes when cashing out but not the penalties since he is disabled. However, what we will save on the mortgage outweighed the taxes we had to pay. We cashed out over 2 years so that we wouldn't be in a higher tax bracket. Then I kept my 401k which is around the $109k in "other assets" you can have. With the Medicaid you can use it for in-home care, daycare, transportation to daycare and/or respite care. As long as he stays at home, my DH can keep about $2k per month of his disability. I work and now that we've qualified it doesn't matter how much I make. The Medicaid lady at the country told me I could "win the lottery" if I wanted. Wouldn't that be nice??!!
Does anyone know does Medicaid count the VA disability payments my dh gets towards our income? If we have to use that towards his care in a home along with both or pensions and ss....What am I suppose to live on? Since what he gets is over twice as much as I get, I still couldn't live on what my little pension is plus my ss. I have heard the wife only get $2,000 a month to live on. In Calif. that wouldn't make the house payment, car payment and utilities...etc.
What you have been told is very much the same as what I have been told. Although I am also in a community property state, in terms of Medicaid, what is mine is his.
On the other side of the coin, state says his 401 is half mine, and I don't really think that is right either.
As another poster pointed out- MarilyninMD? Be very careful of those annuity funds.
Shannon,
You did have to spend down? Right, I also, during a very bad time last year had to withdraw from H's 401. It was devastating to do this. I did not have a choice, and his lawyer said it was the right thing to do. No, as you said it is exempt from penalty if done to support housing, medical care, etc. regarding disability, but still taxable, as I have been told taxable unless it is a Roth, which H's was not.
Plus, you can stay in your current house, but not leave it without penalty. And, I think that it crazy!
H goes to ALF and I am going to upkeep this house? No way in the world.
I don't know anything about VA but I have heard that $2000 limit. I don't know about VA but I am pretty sure that the irs, they count SSDI as income.
After much deliberation (at least on my part, my lawyer said to have no taxes withheld from SSDI.) This seems pretty much the same as VA. She said, deal with it at tax time.
abby, the funds I have which have never been co-mingled came to me through MY family (inhertitance) and have been left only to me, but I am told they are fair game for Medicaid, even the 50% I own in the family home which is my sister's primary residence. Likewise, according to community property laws, I am entitled to 50% of his assets, however, we will be using all of his assets first (and depleting them) for his care, so it makes no difference if I'm entitled to 50% as long as they are needed for his care. If we were to divorce, he would be required to have a court appointed atty to protect his assets, the total assets (his & mine) would be combined and then divided in 2 and he would still benefit way more than I would because of my individual savings and inhertitance.
The community property stuff in certain states is very difficult to get part of the assets to be claimed as private funds. If your dh is well enough maybe your attorney can have him agree to the funds not being part of community property.
I also have private funds that my attorney hopes can remain not part of community property. The court ruled that this was my private funds because it was recieved through a divorce settlement and had been my private property for years and purchased even before that marriage.
My lawyer says that private funds are ignored by Medicaid. She has said that while my funds are respected as private by state law (as in a divorce) Medicaid is steadfast (if that is the right word here). If you "have it" it is "available".
She said this was not the case before 2006 when settlements from divorce, inheritance, or equity funds were not subject to this.
How are you dealing? Are you looking to divorce? I don't mean to be intrusive but well, I am just curious as to how others are handling this? OK, I am really nosey to be honest.
No...not even thinking about divorce. Been there done that...don't want to do it again. But, early on when my dh was really kind of "crazy" acting and delusional, and parnoid I thought why did I ever re-marry. One of the many times during that period he would say..."I'm leaving"...he would get big plastic bags and put his clothes in the bags and take them out and put them in his truck. I knew he wasn't going to leave. But, this seemed to me like a way he was trying to get away from his condition...I can't tell you how many times he did this. Finally, when I really got tired of putting all those clothes back, I said to him one day....the next time you pull this silly trick...you aren't coming back in this house. He never did it again.
I feel really fortunate now, because he is very calm and very easy to take care of and not too many up and downs. What I fear now is the really bad stuff that will be his next phase. It is like waiting for the next shoe to drop. When will it be...next week, next month, next year. I don't handle not knowing very well.
Protecting funds from Medicaid. I'm dumping as much as I can into my retirement account because in South Carolina, unlike many states, my retirement account isn't counted as funds I have to spend on my husband's care down to the amount I am allowed to keep. I'm confident I am 5 years out from needing help, so I am putting my share of a family property into a trust. I'm paying my daughter's tuition--that doesn't count as a gift--and telling her her college fund will be her inheritance. I'm arranging for my mother to change her will, in case she dies before my husband, so what I would inherit from her goes into a trust for my children.
Good for you; proactive is the name of the game here. I had to do things quickly--especially after my original attorney was killed, but he was on the right track and another medicaid/elder care specialist stepped in and is following through.
abby--there were many posts in the past on the issue of divorce for financial reasons/qualifying for Medicaid. I seem to remember posters saying that it isn't possible to divorce a spouse who is considered mentally incompetent and that Medicaid authorities look very closely at divorces to determine whether they have been done in order to qualify. If you do a search you can probably find old discussions on the topic.