How do we try applying for medicaid to help pay nursing home when she makes too much w/ benefits to reduce VA Benifits for medicaid approval?

Well all I know is thank God for the elder law attorney and financial advisor I have.

I am working on getting VA benefits for dad and of course dealing with Medicaid isn't too far behind.. The one thing that my ELA told me is that due to my parent's assets we had to create a trust in my name and transfer all but the minimum assets allowed to my trust. I was really nervous about being taxed as my income and I was told that my accountant needs to file a 709 indicating the transfer which also states taxes have been paid on it. They also suggested in liquidating the life insurance that I should take taxes out due to present government administration then when its in my trust acct just put it in a money mkt to draw the same interest over time.

I think its all in the professionals that are hired. Don't take one person's word for it either. Do some research on your own.

This is all an ugly process so get as informed as you can.

Well as a person who works daily with this issues I have a number of questions.
What state does she live in?
How much is her income?
How much does she have in assets/resources such as cash in the bank, CD's etc.
Is she in the home currently and is your father alive?
What type of VA benefits does she receive?
Has her doctor stated she needs 24/7 care for her ADL's aka custodial care?
I could help with this, without pay of course. If you wish. I will watch for your response

What questions do you need to ask the elder lawyer we first went to an accountant who was going to help us see if we woukd qualify for medicade but after meeting him and taking papers with investments and our bills and our insurance paper 12 days later he said he could not help but would fax over our investments to an elder lawyer and then he would meet with me the nursing home wants the husband to leave rehab but said I had to have daily 8 hr aides in place before we could discharge him which will cost us $4500.00 a month and I just want to know if we qualify for medicade-the husband is not giving me any help or support and with my health I am not sure I can care for him at home-can the nursing home tell me how many hrs of help he has to have and the social worker is not up on the rules for medicaide and is giving us wrong info I am so overwhelmed at this point I can not think straight.

First off,if a doctor is discharging an elder from a Nursing Home to home likely their custodial care needs are not high enough to met the standard of Long Term Care in a Nursing Home. This simply means that the elder can be cared for in the community and will not qualify for placement YET in a Nursing Home. You see the current standards for placement in a Nursing Home require a doctor or the state social worker to say an elder needs 24/7 care with their ADL's. The second standard to receive assistance from the state in the form of Medicaid is that the elder either be receiving SSI/SSP and deemed blind or disabled or 65+ and need a nursing home. Now there is Medicaid assistance if an elder has more income and it is the Home and Community Based Servives Waiver-Medicaid Waiver. There are 2 standards that need to be met. 1-Be Nursing Home eligible as determined by a doctor and/or state social worker. 2-Receive no more that $2,022.00 in income per month and have no more that $2,000.00 in assets/resources. The standards here are for an individual. My allowable space is almost up and there are a couple of additional pieces of information that you all need to know in order to qualify and pay for a nursing home.

Carol and Eric I really thank you both for your commets I feel a little folish for blindly following what the social woeker at the nursing home told me I thought she was sure of her facts we have a meeting sometime this week but yesterday he started going into CHF because they switched his meds around and I am going to see an elder lawyer after our accountant faxs our assests to him he still has all my paper work my husband is not helping me at all with this so it is hard but you have given me some very good advice and I now know the social worker has no right to tell me how maney hours of aides I have to hire her way will cost $4500.00 a month and she is not aware if he is placed it will not be in her nursing home but she does not need to know that-again thank you for your assistance.

There is something entitled "Spousal Impoverishment" which simply put ensures that a community spouse-the one who remains in the home, does not have to go broke to ensure their loved one receives care. It allows a maximum of $104,000.00 to remain with the community spouse. This number is rounded to the nearest dollar but it is pretty close. There is also a monthly needs maintenance amount that is allowed so the commuinty spouse can maintain their living expenses as well as a monthly housing amount. As I recall the monthly needs maintenance amount can be as high as $2,400.00 a month and the monthly housing something like $500.00-although this may be a bit low. Now you also needs to know that their is a rule called "name on the check" which means just that. Yours is yours his, his. So when all is said and done an Elderlaw Attorney is crtical to assist with eligibility. BTW GeriSW and EricJ are one in the same. Didn't mean to confuse.

Eric thank thank you so much for your information I will take this information to the Elder Attorney and have been crunching the numbers and plan to tell the social worker that I will decide how many hrs aide coverage I will get for my husband it is too bad there is no rules on how much a nursing home can bend the rules for their benefit thanks to you and Carol I am not going into this blindfolded and since things are getting down to the line you are so good to help me out when you are so busy yourself I sure hope I will be able to pay this forward some day.

The elder attorney that I deal with is helping us to do things accordingly. First he said due to my father's service and his VA requirements, he does qualify for VA benefits. Next the paperwork for that... nightmare!! Especially when a parent does not keep good records or does not share information.

Then he sent off our information to a VA specialist that reviews applications. They tell us depending on assets or investments what balance my parents are allowed to keep in assets before applying for VA benefits.

I'll say this.... my elder law attorney was able to define the asset requirement for my parents, set up a legal transfer of any excess funds based on that requirement, and then file the VA benefits.... he has a list of letters of thank you's from his clients out on the front desk. Its nice to see he makes the process as painless as possible.

It is not a quick process to do, but if you have the right people assisting you (typically not government help), then they make the process a lot easier. Plus an attorney that deals in elder law is going to know more of the in's and out's than a regular attorney. Mine has been a huge help!!!

Did you also know for Michigan that attorneys cannot charge for helping with VA benefits? If they do they can be reported. Veteran's are able to receive that help at no charge. Now what they may charge for is any additional paperwork needed outside of the VA benefit aspect, but still it saves a lot of money in the long run.