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Sorry, didn't phrase that well, but it still comes from our taxes
No. Medicaid comes from someone else’s taxes. It’s a welfare program.
As I understand the Medicaid rules, you get to keep your house, your car, personal possessions, and the last $125k-ish of other assets. I’m not 100% clear how they count IRA/401(k) that are in the name of the nursing home spouse. I think they grab the Social Security and pension check of the nursing home spouse but I’m not clear on that either. There’s an awful lot of state policy that varies so you really need an attorney who specializes in it.
The community spouse can have up to 126,420 plus a limited amount of home equity ...however if the house is in a living trust or revocable trust it loses it’s protected status , it must be held in personal name ...to switch it back is subject to the 5 year look back.
The home is excluded provided the community spouse lives in it and the value of their home equity does not exceed $585,000 (or $878,000 in some states or California which has no upper limit on home value).
If someone has a 100% VA disability rating nursing home care is covered in full and the spouse gets to keep the VA pension, SS of that person, etc. I know someone in that situation.
Divorce is very common for this exact reason. It happens in the disabled community too. Your illness will bankrupt your spouse so you divorce. Also it's easier for a single person to get help from govt programs than a married person. If you divorce you get to divide up your assets and limit your financial liability for your partner.
Divorce is very common for this exact reason. It happens in the disabled community too. Your illness will bankrupt your spouse so you divorce. Also it's easier for a single person to get help from govt programs than a married person. If you divorce you get to divide up your assets and limit your financial liability for your partner.
I posted about Medicaid divorces earlier .
most states have laws that stop them from taking place once one needs care
for those who think their plan will be a medicaid divorce , you better check your state laws .
it isn't easy to get what is called a medicaid divorce in many states which is usually what is done when a major health event happens .
two very powerful laws here in ny have been upheld and according to our estate attorney who is one of the biggest in ny there are very very few medicaid divorces .
all court actions are now pretty much based on right of refusal .
our two laws that pretty much killed off medicaid divorce are :
(1) Section 5-311 of the General Obligation Law which provides that except as provided in Section 236 of the Domestic Relations Law, a husband and wife cannot contract to relieve either his or her liability to support the other in such a manner that he or she will become incapable of self support, and therefore likely to become a public charge; and
(2) Family Court Act Section 415 which provides that the spouse or parent of a recipient of public assistance or care, or of a person liable to become in need thereof, or a patient in an institution in the department of mental hygiene if of sufficient ability, is responsible for the support of such a person. The Court has the discretion to require any such person to contribute a fair and reasonable sum for such support (child up to 21 years of age).
also if it is eventually determined that a divorce is to be pursued, the divorce needs to satisfy all of the requirements of the Domestic Relations Law, such as establishing one of the requisite grounds for a divorce. This may be difficult to accomplish because of the illness or disability of one spouse
Last edited by mathjak107; 07-08-2019 at 11:50 AM..
The community spouse can have up to 126,420 plus a limited amount of home equity ...however if the house is in a living trust or revocable trust it loses it’s protected status , it must be held in personal name ...to switch it back is subject to the 5 year look back.
The home is excluded provided the community spouse lives in it and the value of their home equity does not exceed $585,000 (or $878,000 in some states or California which has no upper limit on home value).
As the Medicaid recipient you are allowed 2k.
Again this depends on the state. In my state, (with a few exceptions) the community spouse can have up to $50,000 in their name.
In our situation I/we needed to sell our house because we still had a mortgage. So even though legally I could keep the house, after crunching the numbers I would not have been able to pay the mortgage, taxes and repair/maintenance costs on my monthly allowance (if I tried to save the $50,000 for emergencies and not use it for monthly house expenses) as well as pay my other bills.
Now if your house is paid off, the taxes are low and it is unlikely to need a lot of repairs/maintenance in the near future then it is likely to be beneficial to keep your house. But figure it out for your situation.
Last edited by germaine2626; 07-08-2019 at 12:52 PM..
Again this depends on the state. In my state, (with a few exceptions) the community spouse can have up to $50,000 in their name.
In our situation I/we needed to sell our house because we still had a mortgage. So even though legally I could keep the house, after crunching the numbers I would not have been able to pay the mortgage, taxes and repair/maintenance costs on my monthly allowance (if I tried to save the $50,000 for emergencies and not use it for monthly house expenses) as well as pay my other bills.
Now if your house is paid off, the taxes are low and it is unlikely to need a lot of repairs/maintenance in the near future then it is likely to be beneficial to keep your house. But figure it out for your situation.
Yes that is an up to amount .
From Medicaid site
Minimum and Maximum Resource Allowance Amounts
The resource allowance is the amount of assets to which non-applicant spouses are entitled. There is a minimum resource standard and a maximum resource standard. As of 2019, the minimum resource standard is $25,284 and the maximum resource standard is $126,420. These standards are set by the federal government, but states are permitted to set their own standards within those parameters.
Some states have a maximum resource limit under the federally set standard of $126,420. For instance, as of 2018, South Carolina limits their maximum resource allowance to $66,480, and Illinois sets their limit at $109,560. Make note, not all resources are counted, which means they are exempt and are not calculated and included in the resource allowance.
Last edited by mathjak107; 07-08-2019 at 03:35 PM..
Short term rehab is different, less than a month after a fall, surgery, etc. These really help people stay at home longer.
The only questions is which side of a statistic are you on? We only have two outcomes unlike insurers ..it is either it happened to us or it happened to someone else .......it has to happen to someone and it could be you ...it happened to my dad for five long years
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