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Don't forget, nursing homes usually have social workers on staff to help with all the paperwork. They usually know what they're doing.
Better change that to "sometimes".
You would surprised how much they DON'T know! Most don't even know what a "PACE" program is and none of them knew what a "Pooled Trust" program is either. I had to explain both.
I have a couple of scenarios that I would like to present to see how the look back would affect them. These are just hypotheticals.
1. A married couple has 600K in savings, stocks, mutual funds, etc with half in husband's name and half in wife's name. They also own a home jointly worth 500K. Husband gets sick and needs to go to a nursing home. How would the 5 year look back be assessed? Would just the husband's finances in his name be part of the look back or would the wife's assets also be included?
2. A married couple has 600K in savings, stocks, mutual funds, etc with all being joint accts as well as a home owned jointly for 500K. How would the look back be assessed in this case?
I'd like to interject that people can create special needs trusts. Completely legal way to shield some assets. I want one for my brother, so there is money when he needs clothes, his ipad replaced, haircuts, just various and sundry things he won't have money for when he has spent down and they are talking all his SS check.
They are irrevocable and the balance goes to Medicaid if the person dies before they use it, but to me that is better than it all going up-front!
I have a couple of scenarios that I would like to present to see how the look back would affect them. These are just hypotheticals.
1. A married couple has 600K in savings, stocks, mutual funds, etc with half in husband's name and half in wife's name. They also own a home jointly worth 500K. Husband gets sick and needs to go to a nursing home. How would the 5 year look back be assessed? Would just the husband's finances in his name be part of the look back or would the wife's assets also be included?
2. A married couple has 600K in savings, stocks, mutual funds, etc with all being joint accts as well as a home owned jointly for 500K. How would the look back be assessed in this case?
Every state is different. Frankly those numbers sound pretty darn high to think that someone would qualify for assistance because of being low income but every state is different.
In my state they have provisions made for a couple who has a spouse that needs to go into a nursing home. The impoverished spouse, in the community, is able to keep $50,000 in their name (cash, stocks, bonds, savings accounts, etc.), plus a house (up to a certain value) and one car and their spouse, in the nursing home, is allowed to keep $2,000. So normally, in my state, it is a maximum of $52,000 in cash, stocks, retirement savings, etc. combined between the husband and wife (and you have several months to switch it to the correct name). Your state may have different maximum amounts.
The impoverished spouse is allowed to keep enough income each month to pay for rent/mortgage/taxes, utilities, food and a little extra. In my state it is a maximum of $2,300 per month. Sometimes they will allow the spouse to keep a few hundred dollars more per month if their rent & utilities were higher than average. Everything else goes to the government.
I believe that my state started allowing the spouses to have this amount of money to help decrease the amount of divorces of elderly couples due to not being able to pay for your spouses nursing home care and also to prevent the spouse, not in the nursing home, from being homeless or not being able to buy food because everything that you had/received went to pay for nursing home costs.
Last edited by germaine2626; 06-06-2017 at 05:40 PM..
I'd like to interject that people can create special needs trusts. Completely legal way to shield some assets. I want one for my brother, so there is money when he needs clothes, his ipad replaced, haircuts, just various and sundry things he won't have money for when he has spent down and they are talking all his SS check.
They are irrevocable and the balance goes to Medicaid if the person dies before they use it, but to me that is better than it all going up-front!
That is a good point. In my state, a single person can only have $2,000 in assets and it used to be that Medicaid would only allow an additional $35 to be used each month for extra expenses (now it is $100). For my aunt even buying a new pair of shoes would put her over the $35 limit that month and not allow any money for a hair cut or newspapers or magazines or new underwear.
That is a good point. In my state, a single person can only have $2,000 in assets and it used to be that Medicaid would only allow an additional $35 to be used each month for extra expenses (now it is $100). For my aunt even buying a new pair of shoes would put her over the $35 limit that month and not allow any money for a hair cut or newspapers or magazines or new underwear.
Do you mean they can keep $100 from their SS check?
Every state is different. Frankly those numbers sound pretty darn high to think that someone would qualify for assistance because of being low income but every state is different.
In my state they have provisions made for a couple who has a spouse that needs to go into a nursing home. The impoverished spouse, in the community, is able to keep $50,000 in their name (cash, stocks, bonds, savings accounts, etc.), plus a house (up to a certain value) and one car and their spouse, in the nursing home, is allowed to keep $2,000. So normally, in my state, it is a maximum of $52,000 in cash, stocks, retirement savings, etc. combined between the husband and wife (and you have several months to switch it to the correct name). Your state may have different maximum amounts.
The impoverished spouse is allowed to keep enough income each month to pay for rent/mortgage/taxes, utilities, food and a little extra. In my state it is a maximum of $2,300 per month. Sometimes they will allow the spouse to keep a few hundred dollars more per month if their rent & utilities were higher than average. Everything else goes to the government.
I believe that my state started allowing the spouses to have this amount of money to help decrease the amount of divorces of elderly couples due to not being able to pay for your spouses nursing home care and also to prevent the spouse, not in the nursing home, from being homeless or not being able to buy food because everything that you had/received went to pay for nursing home costs.
But that doesn't seem fair to the spouse that is not sick. It doesn't leave anythingif he/she gets sick at some point in the future.
Do you mean they can keep $100 from their SS check?
Yes, but I'm not exactly sure how it is done.
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