Follow
Share

For my husband and myself. We are receiving Medicare and for my self Disability from Social security TY.. Please know when an answer is posted. Thank you,

This discussion has been closed for comment. Start a New Discussion.
Dw - you really want to whatever you can to ensure that you are able to maximize your SSDI and your hubby's SS. The best way to do that is to meet with an experienced eider law attorney in your area. SSDI is an extra layer of complexity so I'd suggest you find one that is NAELA.

Medicare rules are federal so basically all the same wherever you live. But for Medicaid, well those rules, qualifications, eligibility details are set state by state as medicaid is a joint federal &'state program administered by each state. So say what TX allows for a community spouse to retain can be different than for Louisiana.

I mention community spouse because if it looks like you may need care in a facility sooner due to disability while hubs is ok to stay living at home, planning for that is very very different than for a single person. You don't want to spend down anymore than you have to as hubs needs all the income he can retain to stay living in your community. Based on a lot of the stories on this site, the community spouse often spends down much more than is needed or isn't aware of how to convert an asset to one that is Meducaid exempt. For community spouse situations, it's hard as your focus & concentration is on taking care of each other and often in a crisis situation so long term costly mistakes are made in dealing with Medicaid.

Really find a NAELA elder law person. Google your states name & NAELA and that should give you a list to refer to.

.? when were you diagnosed with MS? If it was when you were young, you may be able to benefit from the ABLE Act. ABLE is new for 2015 and allows for those disabled when young to actually have assets beyond the strict low Medicaid limits. I have a cousin with polio (from the 1950's) who has a Special Needs Trust and we're looking at if it may be better to move some trust $ to ABLE account. ABLE is going to be a really good & simple way to not have the disabled become so impoverished and dependent on government. Disability, SSDI & income stuff has all sorts of issues and you need accurate advice to do correctly. Good luck.
(0)
Report

What is a irrevocable trust? At one time because I have M.S. and to go on disability we were told we could not have a trust for our children. Is that true today? TY.
(0)
Report

I had to take care of all of the funeral expenses for my parents, my dad passed away almost 2 years ago but my mom is still living and is in a memory care facility with severe dementia. As long as you are not on medicade yet you should be able to pay for these expenses but make sure that you get an irrevocable trust. Then if you have to apply for state aid you will have everything in place. They won't be able to do anything about it and your family will not be burdened with the final expenses. My parents only had their cemetery plots. I went to the funeral home and took care of the rest which cost for the 2 of them around $15,000.00 . I would suggest to anyone to do this if they can afford it. I had to completely exhaust all of my parents money, cashed in their life insurance policies, stocks, bonds, etc., There are still some expense when a person passes on but nothing compared to having nothing in place. I would talk to an Elder Care Attorney about this.
(0)
Report

Then how can one know their amount of money is due for Social security at any given time. So there is no amount of money that needed to be recover?
(0)
Report

Social Security has a very small death benefit, only $250. Nothing from Medicare or Disability. In many cases relatives pay for the funeral and then recover their money when the house is sold.
(0)
Report

Sorry, don't understand what you are asking "please know when an answer is posted".

Are you asking how does one know when someone had answered your question? If so, go to the right side of this page to "My Account".... click on "Edit Account".... click on "Email".... then click on "Notification"... then click on "Save" at the bottom of the page. Any time you post a question or answer, and someone else also post on that same page, you will get a notification in your e-mail.
(0)
Report

This discussion has been closed for comment. Start a New Discussion.
Start a Discussion
Subscribe to
Our Newsletter