Category: Medicaid

Headed to, or Already in, a Nursing Home? It May Be Possible to Protect the Home Utilizing Medicaid’s “Two-Year Rule”

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 $100,000.00 would result in a penalty period of roughly 15 months. In other words, the Medicaid applicant would not be eligible for assistance to help pay for nursing home costs until the end of the 15-month penalty period.

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Do you need to hire an attorney to prepare your “Nursing Home — Medicaid” application?

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 income and asset information of the applicant and his or her spouse.… Read More »

Advanced Medicaid Planning Series: Long Term Care Insurance

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.

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Advanced Medicaid Planning Series: Asset Protection (Single or Widowed Case)

To begin my series on advanced Medicaid planning strategies, I would like to address a question that I am often asked: How can I protect my assets if I’m not likely to enter a nursing home within the next 5 years?

* The following is a discussion on the protection of non-real estate assets. To learn about advanced Medicaid planning strategies to protect your home and other real estate, please view my blog titled, “Medicaid Advanced Planning Series: Protection of the Home and Other Real Estate”.

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Advanced Medicaid Planning Series: Protection of the Home and Other Real Estate

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.… Read More »