Thanks so much Barb and Igloo for making it so clear that this is tricky, complicated, and that we can be led down the garden paths with bad information when attempting this planning. Thanks for making it so clear that this is NOT DO IT YOURSELF work. There are times we need experts so we don't make disasterous mistakes that cannot be undone. SEE THAT ATTORNEY. Pay for it. It will in the end be well worth it.
Again, don't get SOLD something you don't understand. Getting sold some useless and worthless vitamins is usually OK. You just eliminate them next time you go to the bathroom. Buying a mess of annuities or making trusts you cannot change (read irrevocable) is NOT so easily undone. In fact, it isn't undone at ALL.
Educate yourself first & foremost. Lots of smoke & mirrors and flat out bad ideas that you’ll hear about. Some quite enticing!
You have Medicare as health insurance but imho you need to clearly find out just what your State does for its many Medicaid programs esp for Medicaid to become a “dual” so that y’all are Medicare and Medicaid eventually for health insurance and then what the criteria is for Medicaid custodial care programs aka LTC Medicaid in a facility usually a NH aka a skilled nursing care facility OR for Medicaid as community based for In-Home Health or a PACE program. Medicaid is huge, HUGE, and each program has its own criteria but once ya get into reading, you will see the pattern to the maze.
Also your area will have an Area on Aging and they have staffing and info and do seminars, etc…. AoA is part of your Council of Government which are regional planning bodies in all states that do work on things that involved federal/State $ that cross jurisdictional lines. COGs do alot of work in transportation stuff but also do Area on Aging. A lot of COGs now have the AoA as a free standing agency and the Ombudsman program is in the AoA. It’s your tax $ at work, use it!
and since y’all are a couple, please PLEASE realize that the rules for couples when it’s that 1 is likely to need a facility way ahead of the other is entirely different than what it is for an individual. Turn a deaf ear to what anyone tells you happened for their mom, or an Uncle, or a friend. Widower/ widow individual LTC Medicaid application easy peasy compared to the issues that have to be taken into account for couples.
Couples and LTC Medicaid eligibility are a totally different creature and imho you have to, have to have a CELA level of attorney work with you at some point in all this to give you options. It’s not a DIY as only the requiring a facility spouse needs to be impoverished NOT the still living in the community spouse. Segregating NH v. CS income and assets is not necessarily straightforward and there’s lots of nuances on this that very much tied into how your State administers its Medicaid and what exactly your states laws are on property & probate. CS does not themselves need to become “impoverished” but how best to do is not a DIY. That’s CELA attorney work & often with a financial advisor with a series 7 license (a licensed fiduciary).
lots of little things & flat out bad ideas couple often do: like most do a “pour over” will, but once on LTC Medicaid bad, very bad idea, cause if you get hit by a bus & die, your in a NH spouse gets the assets which takes them over limits, just who is there to deal with this for them?? It’s stuff like this is why you want experienced attorney. Another thing is you may get mailings to do “ok 4 Medicaid annuities”, which technically is accurate as is a move of your $ into insurance product you own, however, when later on you do file for LTC Medicaid, what States usually do is require beneficiary change to have State become primary beneficiary to be OK for LTC Medicaid eligibility. So upon death State is beneficiary & only after State recoups all costs paid by Medicaid does secondary’s get paid any funds left. LOL. That probably is so not why you did that annuity, but doesn’t matter to insurance guy who got their commission ages ago. Routine paperwork for State Dept of Insurance. Also if annuity in payout, that’s income. If your SS is high, and annuity payout is also, could take you over most States LTC Medicaid individual income max of $2,752. You’d need an atty to deal with this and with your spouse filing for their own resource allowance from that income, to get the overage ok. But to do this, isn’t a DIY. Overwhelmed??
Like I said, it’s not straightforward for couples. Really research, form ?’s and find a CELA that y’all like & let them come up with options that fit for how your State runs. It will be ok.
The only correct answer to your question is to consult an estate planning / elder care attorney.
Again, don't get SOLD something you don't understand. Getting sold some useless and worthless vitamins is usually OK. You just eliminate them next time you go to the bathroom. Buying a mess of annuities or making trusts you cannot change (read irrevocable) is NOT so easily undone. In fact, it isn't undone at ALL.
GET EXPERT ADVICE
You have Medicare as health insurance but imho you need to clearly find out just what your State does for its many Medicaid programs esp for Medicaid to become a “dual” so that y’all are Medicare and Medicaid eventually for health insurance and then what the criteria is for Medicaid custodial care programs aka LTC Medicaid in a facility usually a NH aka a skilled nursing care facility OR for Medicaid as community based for In-Home Health or a PACE program. Medicaid is huge, HUGE, and each program has its own criteria but once ya get into reading, you will see the pattern to the maze.
Also your area will have an Area on Aging and they have staffing and info and do seminars, etc…. AoA is part of your Council of Government which are regional planning bodies in all states that do work on things that involved federal/State $ that cross jurisdictional lines. COGs do alot of work in transportation stuff but also do Area on Aging. A lot of COGs now have the AoA as a free standing agency and the Ombudsman program is in the AoA. It’s your tax $ at work, use it!
and since y’all are a couple, please PLEASE realize that the rules for couples when it’s that 1 is likely to need a facility way ahead of the other is entirely different than what it is for an individual. Turn a deaf ear to what anyone tells you happened for their mom, or an Uncle, or a friend. Widower/ widow individual LTC Medicaid application easy peasy compared to the issues that have to be taken into account for couples.
Couples and LTC Medicaid eligibility are a totally different creature and imho you have to, have to have a CELA level of attorney work with you at some point in all this to give you options. It’s not a DIY as only the requiring a facility spouse needs to be impoverished NOT the still living in the community spouse. Segregating NH v. CS income and assets is not necessarily straightforward and there’s lots of nuances on this that very much tied into how your State administers its Medicaid and what exactly your states laws are on property & probate. CS does not themselves need to become “impoverished” but how best to do is not a DIY. That’s CELA attorney work & often with a financial advisor with a series 7 license (a licensed fiduciary).
lots of little things & flat out bad ideas couple often do: like most do a “pour over” will, but once on LTC Medicaid bad, very bad idea, cause if you get hit by a bus & die, your in a NH spouse gets the assets which takes them over limits, just who is there to deal with this for them?? It’s stuff like this is why you want experienced attorney. Another thing is you may get mailings to do “ok 4 Medicaid annuities”, which technically is accurate as is a move of your $ into insurance product you own, however, when later on you do file for LTC Medicaid, what States usually do is require beneficiary change to have State become primary beneficiary to be OK for LTC Medicaid eligibility. So upon death State is beneficiary & only after State recoups all costs paid by Medicaid does secondary’s get paid any funds left. LOL. That probably is so not why you did that annuity, but doesn’t matter to insurance guy who got their commission ages ago. Routine paperwork for State Dept of Insurance. Also if annuity in payout, that’s income. If your SS is high, and annuity payout is also, could take you over most States LTC Medicaid individual income max of $2,752. You’d need an atty to deal with this and with your spouse filing for their own resource allowance from that income, to get the overage ok. But to do this, isn’t a DIY. Overwhelmed??
Like I said, it’s not straightforward for couples. Really research, form ?’s and find a CELA that y’all like & let them come up with options that fit for how your State runs. It will be ok.
You need to consult an Elder Law attorney in your state.
Applying for LTC Medicaid as a married couple is not a do it yourself project, and the details vary widely from State to State.
If only one of you needs to go into care, most states will allow the Community Spouse to preserve their own assets.