Elder Law Matters — a monthly blog by Glenn A. Deig

So much of your life exists in the digital world. When you consider your daily online activities, plus the platforms, management tools, and devices you routinely use, digital impacts your life significantly. It’s likely you use many, if not most of the following: email, Facebook, Twitter, Google Calendar, Amazon, Netflix, online photo and music storage, apps for ordering prescriptions, online management of financial accounts, smart phones, and tablets, to name a few. All of your 
Funded through a federal grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Money Follows the Person is a program designed to transition those who reside in nursing facilities, and other institutional settings, to their homes or other community-based settings. To be eligible for this program, the following requirements must be met by the resident: Must be a current resident of a qualifying institution (nursing facility) Must have been a resident for the past 90 
In order to qualify for Medicaid benefits to help pay for nursing home costs, certain asset and income guidelines must first be met. A single or widowed individual must have less than $2,000.00 in “countable” assets to qualify for Medicaid. Countable assets consist of, but are not limited to: balance in checking, savings, certificates of deposit, savings bonds, cash value life insurance, stocks, investment accounts, and retirement accounts. One vehicle of any value is not 
Once your spouse has been approved for Medicaid to help pay the nursing home expense, you may wonder what will happen to your income. As the non-Medicaid-recipient spouse (“community spouse”) who is residing at home or with relatives, in an apartment or condominium, or in assisted living, you may be eligible to receive a portion of your spouse’s income each month. According to The Indiana Long Term Care Partnership Program page on the Indiana Medicaid website 
Once your spouse has been approved for Medicaid to help pay nursing home costs, he or she will likely owe a portion of his or her income to the nursing home each month; this is referred to as the “patient liability” to the nursing home. The monthly patient liability owed to the nursing home is calculated by reducing the gross income of the Medicaid recipient by the following monthly costs: health and dental insurance premiums,