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

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, 
In most situations, transfers of assets that have taken place within five years of filing an application for “Nursing Home Medicaid” result in a penalty period, or period of Medicaid ineligibility based on the fair market value of the asset that was transferred (gifted). Since Indiana’s current penalty divisor is $6,682.00 (effective July 1, 2019 — this figure changes on July 1 each year), the transfer of a home with a fair market value of 
The Indiana Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) Program is a new advance care planning tool designed for those individuals with a disease that is life-limiting or terminal. People with these life-limiting conditions experience diminished benefits from treatments and increased burden as their condition progresses. The Indiana POST form is a standardized form containing orders by a treating physician based on a patient’s preferences for end-of-life care. The POST form documents an individual’s treatment 
Medicaid is a state and federal program that provides health coverage for those who meet certain eligibility guidelines. For people who are under age 65 and do require long term care in a nursing facility, eligibility is mostly based on income; therefore, these applications typically aren’t very difficult. People who need Medicaid to assist in covering long term care expenses, such as nursing home or home-based services, must meet more strict eligibility standards based on 
Long term care insurance covers care generally not covered by health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid. A number of considerations go into how much long term care insurance that you should buy. The average cost of a room in a nursing home is $70,000 per year and the average monthly base rate in an assisted-living facility in Indiana is $3,693. Home care costs can vary. One way to calculate how much to buy is to take the