While there are strategies to protect the home of those who are entering, or already in a nursing home, the focus of this article is on advanced Medicaid planning: for those who will not be needing nursing home care within the next 5 years. I will discuss crisis Medicaid planning techniques in a future series of articles. Why consider advanced Medicaid planning to protect the home and other real estate? Indiana has a 5‑year look
A Power of Attorney is a written document which gives a person, or persons, of your choice the authority to take actions or make decisions on your behalf. Once you’ve chosen a person (or persons) to help you make important decisions, that person (or persons) is called your “attorney-in-fact”. Your attorney-in-fact may have authority to act in your place for financial or other purposes. It is important to trust this person with your finances. There
#1 Transfers to spouse. A married Medicaid applicant/recipient who is an inpatient at a nursing facility may, without penalty, transfer all assets to the spouse who is still living at home. #2 Transfers to a blind or disabled child. A Medicaid applicant/recipient may transfer assets to his or her blind or disabled child, according to SSI criteria, or to a trust fund for such a child, without penalty. #3 De Minimis gift. Each year, a Medicaid
Your Medicaid application has been approved. Fantastic! The approval notice mentions something about a “liability” owed to the nursing home each month. What is a liability and how did they arrive at this figure? Once you’ve been approved for Medicaid, you will likely owe a portion of your monthly income to help cover nursing home costs; this is referred to as the liability to the nursing home. The monthly liability owed to the nursing home
Beginning June 1, 2014, Indiana implemented a change to its Medicaid eligibility standards for those residing in nursing homes or receiving waivered services. The new rule currently limits the gross income of Medicaid recipients to $2,199.00 per month (updated May, 2015). Each year, this Special Income Level (SIL) may be adjusted. Medicaid recipients whose income exceeded the SIL prior to June 1, 2014, received a written notice from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration