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Marujita: As the car is not owned, it is not an asset and therefore it doesn't affect Medicaid.
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Reply to Llamalover47
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A leased car is not an asset as said by some readers. Exempted from Medicaid. I'm not sure about how ending the lease prematurely will work out. Check with the dealer and explain about the auto renter's situation.
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Reply to Patathome01
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You don't have to be completely destitute to get Medicaid. For example, in most cases, you don't have to sell the home. You can also keep some funds, personal items, a car, funds for burial, business assets, and some life insurance
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Reply to FamilyNeeded
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JoAnn29 Feb 14, 2024
The only life insurance you can keep is employer owned. Meaning they paid for it. No, the house does not need to be sold but there will be no money for upkeep. Once the person dies, a lien will be placed on the house and the house will need to be sold to satisfy the lien. The car, the person will not be driving and neither will anyone else. Insurance cannot be gotten unless u own the car.
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Takes dementia to even consider leasing.
With rare business exceptions.
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Reply to Pyrite
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Geaton777 Feb 13, 2024
Well I wouldn't express it like that, but the 3 people I know who leased cars personally it didn't end well for them.
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Auto leasing has no actual ownership. Technically NOT an asset.

To me, issues on keeping a lease, will be:
- affordability which depends on which Medicaid program they are applying to.
Some Medicaid programs, like LTC Medicaid leave them with realistically no $. LTC is NH Medicaid so no longer living in their home or in a family members home & are require to do a copay of almost all their income but $60/$75 a month to the NH so zero $ to pay the lease.
But community based Medicaid, like for InHome healthcare or a PACE day program does not have the big copay requirement of LTC Medicaid so she would likely still have her monthly income to be able to pay her existing lease. So which Medicaid program???

And
- how the lease reads for being ok for legitimately adding on additional drivers &/or changing where the car is “garaged” for the terms of the lease?

and
- would it possibly make sense for someone else in the family to pay all the leased car costs for the remainder of the lease assuming whomever driving can be added onto auto insurance and also the insurance address is changed to wherever the car is now going to be listed as it’s “garage” for auto insurance. Please be aware that if the auto insurance policy is tied into elders homeowner policy (like it’s State Farm, USAA) and they have moved out of their home and into a NH, and there is an accident on the leased vehicle, the insurance company will likely find that out and deny any claim…. and everyone in this drama will be be sued. You just want the auto insurance to be freestanding auto insurance.

I’ve done leases forever as a business expense, as need a new & dependable not expensive SUV under warranty. It makes sense for me. But my understanding to do one for personal use is a bad financially most of the time as paying on something (probably more expensive than you could qualify to afford to buy) at dealer set interest rate that still has a chunky payoff due at its end of lease. If it’s not afford to keep or doesn’t make sense to do, contact customer service support # on the monthly lease statement on doing “early cancellation”. Theres a system that has to be followed similar to ending a lease…. like an odometer reading that has required dated paperwork. Good luck on your decision making.
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Reply to igloo572
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Normally Medicaid qualifications would never leave enough, in most states, to pay for a leased car.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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Leasing cars can be a nightmare unless you know what you're doing. Don't turn it in or talk to the dealer without doing some homework first:

https://budgeting.thenest.com/return-leased-car-early-27500.html
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Reply to Geaton777
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No, because the car does not belong to them. It belongs to the dealer who leased it to them. At the end of a lease the leasee has the choice to turn it in and lease another car or buy the car they have been leasing. So, the
Car needs to be returned to the dealership. Telling them the person is now in nursing care. Not sure how they will handle an early return.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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