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 Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:12 am Post subject: Look Back |
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My mother in law lives with me and spends about $2,500 dollars a month of her modest assets to assist with the cost of operating our household which includes a mortgage payment. Is this spending subject to the look back in determining her assets for eligibility for Medicaid should she need to go into a nursing home.
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John O'Sullivan
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| Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:27 am Post subject: medicaid spendown |
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If you have a mortgage on your home and receive social security disability retirement benefits, will this disqualify you for medicaid?
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| Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:14 am Post subject: |
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| As far as I know, SSDI benefits won't be affected by a mortgage but Medicaid might. You should have a talk with your SSDI and medical advisor to clear your doubts. |
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Heller
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| Posted: Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | You should have a talk with your SSDI and medical advisor to clear your doubts. |
Heller's answer, like many of his others elsewhere, is both incomplete and fundamentally incorrect. We don't know anything about his background or qualifications, but by the nature of his frequent misinformation, it is dubious, to say the least. The person to speak to about qualifying for Medicaid is the Social Worker employed by your local county Welfare/Public Social Services agency who will determine your eligibility -- Social Security has nothing to do with it (even though our Social Security dollars are being stolen to pay for Medicaid benefits), and a person's "medical advisor" (whatever that is supposed to mean -- a doctor, perhaps? -- is not likely to be in a position to advise about Medicaid eligibility in any way.
Here are some facts:
Eligibility for Medicaid for Long Term Care is a two-pronged test of assets and income. A personal residence (and personal jewelry, one car, and any business property/assets) is among the major assets exempt from the spenddown test if the "confined" person "intends to return" to the home [who would not so intend?], but the residence will have a lien placed against it for mandatory asset recovery following the death of the Medicaid recipient -- this will be extended for as long a the recipient's spouse remains in the home. The amount of the mortgage payments (assuming both spouses are on title) will be divided between the confined spouse and the "community" spouse as part of each person's spenddown liability. The value of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds are all "countable" assets.
Monthly income, such as pension or retirement plan distributions, income from rental property or other passive investments, or from a "reverse annuity mortgage", cannot be "sheltered" through the purchase of annuities or life insurance, and the cash value of any cash value life insurance is also countable as an asset down to about $1500 (the average cost of cremation services).
The cash value of annuities not in the distribution phase are a protected asset -- as long as the annuity(ies) was purchased more than 60 months prior to the Medicaid application. The "value" of any money used to purchase any annuity within 60 months of applying for Medicaid will remain part of the "countable" assets of the applicant on paper, and that value, along with the value of all other countable assets, will have to be spent down to the asset retention limit (even if it requires withdrawing money from the annuity, and even if that withdrawal is subject to a surrender charge -- the surrender charge does not count toward the spenddown, it simply reduces the remaining value of the annuity).
SSDI payments end at age 65, so would not be a factor in Medicaid eligibility at or after that age. Prior to age 65, however, SSDI is simply part of a person's monthly income, which must be spent down to the $35 allowance level before Medicaid eligibility may be established for the month (assuming the community spouse also meets his/her income spenddown). At age 65, a SSDI beneficiary simply begins to collect their SS Retirement benefit (which is usually lower than their SSDI benefit), but that is INCOME, and must be counted toward the monthly spenddown.
There are many abuses in annuity sales directed toward seniors, and some agents promote annuity sales as a means of qualifying for Medicaid. For anyone considering the purchase of annuities as a way to qualify for Medicaid . . . that 60 month hurdle is a very large one to jump over. Some agents fail to discuss both the 60 month lookback period or the surrender charges in the annuity -- both of which are now violations of the NAIC Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulations which were adopted in all states in 2010 or 2011 and are in effect as of January 1, 2012 in most or all states.
For more information about those regulations, visit your state's Dept of Insurance website.
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MaxHerr
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| Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 9:02 pm Post subject: Medicaid Exemptions |
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My wife is in a nursing home. I own a farm and this is my only source of income. Is my farm exempt. I live in Minnesota.
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bdubb
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| Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 6:05 am Post subject: |
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If you and your wife live in the home on the farm property, it is exempt from the Medicaid spenddown test if your wife's "intent" is to return to the home when she no longer needs to be in the nursing facility (of course, she wants to do that).
If your farming is a business, those assets (land, equipment, etc) are also protected from the spenddown test.
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MaxHerr
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:01 pm Post subject: medicaid |
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If I apply or medicaid in Indiana will I have to give up my car? My car is the only way I have of getting anywhere even to the doctor. I am 63 years old and on Social Security, I rent my apartment, I have a checking account so that social security can deposit my funds.I have no other assets
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V Bradley
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:01 pm Post subject: medicaid |
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If I apply or medicaid in Indiana will I have to give up my car? My car is the only way I have of getting anywhere even to the doctor. I am 63 years old and on Social Security, I rent my apartment, I have a checking account so that social security can deposit my funds.I have no other assets
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V Bradley
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| Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2012 7:01 pm Post subject: medicaid |
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If I apply or medicaid in Indiana will I have to give up my car? My car is the only way I have of getting anywhere even to the doctor. I am 63 years old and on Social Security, I rent my apartment, I have a checking account so that social security can deposit my funds.I have no other assets
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V Bradley
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:49 pm Post subject: |
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The Medicaid spenddown rules permit the retention of one automobile. So nothing to worry about when it comes to your car being taken away. Go ahead and apply if necessary.
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MaxHerr
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