Medicad and nursing homes

[peerbolteb]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NC

[peerbolteb]

My 94 year old mother will be going into a nursing home (She is now in rehab) She does not have very much money but I would like to preserve more than $2,000 for her personal needs. How do I legally do this?

[commentator]

I am sure the nursing home will guide you. You will need to start working with the county Medicaid person immediately.

Medicare pays for the first 90 days of care in a skilled nursing facility. This includes rehab. After that, you are on your own for paying, till you have depleted her assets to a certain level. This is actually around $2000. Then Medicaid will come in, will do what is standard proceedure, since she is not going to be able to pay for this care which is necessary for her. This means that any assets she has will be signed over to the program. They will allow certain things to be done with her assets, such as a burial policy, and then they will take everything, leaving her a certain amount each month which will come directly to her, and will be for her incidentals.

During that first 90 days she is in skilled care, you need to be working this out with the social services, human services department in the county where she will be staying. You do not need to keep out a certain amount of her assets, as this is a very cut and dried program, and what can be kept out and what must be spent down is very clearly defined by Medicaid. At this point you cannot legally preserve any of her estate. In fact, they will look at how her assets have been used for the past five years, called the "look back' period, and determine if any of her money has been gifted or moved to her family members, and this money would be recouped before they would put her on Medicaid. The alternative is that she pays for her care in the nursing home herself, or she is cared for by someone at home.

[BlondiePB]

Originally Posted by commentator

I am sure the nursing home will guide you. You will need to start working with the county Medicaid person immediately.

Medicare pays for the first 90 days of care in a skilled nursing facility. This includes rehab. After that, you are on your own for paying, till you have depleted her assets to a certain level. This is actually around $2000. Then Medicaid will come in, will do what is standard proceedure, since she is not going to be able to pay for this care which is necessary for her. This means that any assets she has will be signed over to the program. They will allow certain things to be done with her assets, such as a burial policy, and then they will take everything, leaving her a certain amount each month which will come directly to her, and will be for her incidentals.

During that first 90 days she is in skilled care, you need to be working this out with the social services, human services department in the county where she will be staying. You do not need to keep out a certain amount of her assets, as this is a very cut and dried program, and what can be kept out and what must be spent down is very clearly defined by Medicaid. At this point you cannot legally preserve any of her estate. In fact, they will look at how her assets have been used for the past five years, called the "look back' period, and determine if any of her money has been gifted or moved to her family members, and this money would be recouped before they would put her on Medicaid. The alternative is that she pays for her care in the nursing home herself, or she is cared for by someone at home.

What Medicare pays and for how long is determined on numerous factors.