In my experience, I've found that giving my elderly mother her own [url=http://www.medicalguardian.com/request-info-medical-alert-services/]medical alert device[/url] at least gave me peace of mind in the moments that I was not able to be there for her. That way, she could get emergency help if she needed, just by pushing a button and nothing else. Anyways, I find every little bit helps. Best of luck to everyone in their search.
Yes they do get a small stipend - about $ 35.00 - 50.00 -monthly for personal needs. But really 35.00/50.00 is maybe a shampoo and set and a meal out at the most.
The amount is all set by the state in which she lives under federal guidelines.
I think that if they own a home and it is under a realtor contract, that part of their monthly income can be diverted to take care of expenses (insurance, lawn maintenance, utilities, owner required closing costs) for a period of time while the sale goes through. If anyone has gone through the lein on the house situation by medicaid, I'd love to hear their experience with settling the property after death.
My MIL NH placed all residents stipend into an account they could drawn from. She just went to the business office to get $ But you have to be carefull. You can't let it build up as that could make her go above the $ 2,020.00 monthly ceiling for medicaid eligibility.
All asset information will be needed for medicaid review and for the attorney to see. You really can't hide assets anymore. Minimum of 3 years statements from the bank, they could ask for 5 years.
Have you talked to social service she should be able to get on medicaide she will have to give them her SS checks and retirement checks but I thought they could have some money to spend on their needs check with an elder lawyer in your local area usually if you have no money to speak of this is the people who get medicade so talk to a lawyer or a social worker at a nursing home they are the experts good luck-I think the person who told you that is not experienced but be aware they may also take that 200 dollars but I would fight to keep some for clothes and hair appointments and some treats at times in the nursing home.
My understanding is the ceiling is $ 2,020.00 per month in assets. Under that they can qualify for medicaid. Over that you're SOL. Their home does not count nor does a vehicle if used to drive to medical and daily needs activities. Did you hear your information directly in a meeting with someone from DHHS? There's alot of misinformation out there.
Also if there is medical insurance premium $$ taken out of her retirement checks, then you need to figure out what the amount is before the premium paid as that is the figure used for her assets. The SS check will have $ taken out for medicare, same thing on this, but this should be clearly noted on her yearly SS statement from the govt.
I'm assuming that your goal is to have her placed in SNF?
If her savings and investment and monthly income from Social security & retirement/annunity is over $ 2K even by a penny, no medicaid. You will need to spend down to get to that point if you want her to qualify for medicaid.
If she has a home, then you can spend down in paying for repairs, taxes, utilities, etc. All this need to be paid out of her banking account. You do not have to sell her home. You can pre-pay for her funeral to spend down. Buy her new glasses, hearing aids, walkers, etc to spend down. Be sure to copy any check over $ 500.00 as they (your states' dept of Health & Human Services) will want to see that in the 3 - 5 yr look back. You want to spend to get things that she will need now while you still have control over her finances. Once she goes into medicaid system, if she needs things that medicaid doesn't pay for, you cannot use her money to do that as it is pledged and frozen (so to speak by a lien) to pay the institution that she is at. So you will have to pay for it out of your own pocket. I don't believe that you will get reinbursed.
If she has a home and you pay for things that are essential, you can attach a lien to the house every quarter so that you get that $$ back - it's alot of work & if it's not very much money involved might not be worth the effort and filing expense.
This is all very regulated. You should see an eldercare attorney (NOT a regular attorney) who is in the county & state she lives in to figure out a game plan. If you don't have medical and durable POA and guardianship paperwork and a will done, you can get all that done at the same time.
All those legal forms are usually at a somewhat fixed rate. It's the other stuff, like doing a Miller trust or a Lady-Bird, that up's the attorney's fees. You might be able to transfer one of her retirement checks to be paid out to another family member to decease her income. Whatever it needs an attorney to do it.
There is something like 20 items needed to go thru the medicaid application. So get those binders out and buy an extra cartridge for the printer or find a Kinko's, really.
Good luck.
If push came to shove, you could make her a ward of the state. It's complicated and you can't take it back, but once done the state will assume all her expenses.
Ruth The doctor classifed mom yesterday as needing skilled care. The problem is that she does not own anything and has no savings. She only has her income from SS. and 2 small retirement checks. For her to live in an assisted living and/or nursing facility she would need some other supplemental income to do that. She doesn't have that. We were told that she makes $200 too much income to qualify for medicaid. This is very frustrating.
Is the doctor recommending that she receive care at home, or in an assisted living situation? Does she live alone, or independently, now? If the doctor says she can be okay as long as she's monitored for fall prevention, and assisted with daily tasks, I would think she could live at home with help. What often happens is there is an in-home assessment to determine if enough safety devices are there (shower bars, raised toilet seat with handles, no unsecured throw rugs, etc) and to see if there is enough help to keep the patient safe.
The amount is all set by the state in which she lives under federal guidelines.
I think that if they own a home and it is under a realtor contract, that part of their monthly income can be diverted to take care of expenses (insurance, lawn maintenance, utilities, owner required closing costs) for a period of time while the sale goes through. If anyone has gone through the lein on the house situation by medicaid, I'd love to hear their experience with settling the property after death.
My MIL NH placed all residents stipend into an account they could drawn from. She just went to the business office to get $
But you have to be carefull. You can't let it build up as that could make her go above the $ 2,020.00 monthly ceiling for
medicaid eligibility.
All asset information will be needed for medicaid review
and for the attorney to see. You really can't hide assets anymore. Minimum of 3 years statements from the bank, they could ask for 5 years.
Also if there is medical insurance premium $$ taken out of her retirement checks, then you need to figure out what the amount is before the premium paid as that is the figure used for her assets. The SS check will have $ taken out for medicare, same thing on this, but this should be clearly noted on her yearly SS statement from the govt.
I'm assuming that your goal is to have her placed in SNF?
If her savings and investment and monthly income from Social security & retirement/annunity is over $ 2K even by a penny, no medicaid. You will need to spend down to get to that point if you want her to qualify for medicaid.
If she has a home, then you can spend down in paying for repairs, taxes, utilities, etc. All this need to be paid out of her banking account. You do not have to sell her home. You can pre-pay for her funeral to spend down. Buy her new glasses, hearing aids, walkers, etc to spend down. Be sure to copy any check over $ 500.00 as they (your states' dept of Health & Human Services) will want to see that in the 3 - 5 yr look back. You want to spend to get things that she will need now while you still have control over her finances. Once she goes into medicaid system, if she needs things that medicaid doesn't pay for, you cannot use her money to do that as it is pledged and frozen (so to speak by a lien) to pay the institution that she is at. So you will have to pay for it out of your own pocket. I don't believe that you will get reinbursed.
If she has a home and you pay for things that are essential, you can attach a lien to the house every quarter so that you get that $$ back - it's alot of work & if it's not very much money involved
might not be worth the effort and filing expense.
This is all very regulated. You should see an eldercare attorney (NOT a regular attorney) who is in the county & state she lives in to figure out a game plan. If you don't have medical and durable POA and guardianship paperwork and a will done, you can get all that done at the same time.
All those legal forms are usually at a somewhat fixed rate. It's the other stuff, like doing a Miller trust or a Lady-Bird, that up's the attorney's fees. You might be able to transfer one of her retirement checks to be paid out to another family member to decease her income. Whatever it needs an attorney to do it.
There is something like 20 items needed to go thru the medicaid application. So get those binders out and buy an extra cartridge for the printer or find a Kinko's, really.
Good luck.
If push came to shove, you could make her a ward of the state.
It's complicated and you can't take it back, but once done the state will assume all her expenses.
The doctor classifed mom yesterday as needing skilled care. The problem is that she does not own anything and has no savings. She only has her income from SS. and 2 small retirement checks. For her to live in an assisted living and/or nursing facility she would need some other supplemental income to do that. She doesn't have that. We were told that she makes $200 too much income to qualify for medicaid. This is very frustrating.
If the doctor says she can be okay as long as she's monitored for fall prevention, and assisted with daily tasks, I would think she could live at home with help.
What often happens is there is an in-home assessment to determine if enough safety devices are there (shower bars, raised toilet seat with handles, no unsecured throw rugs, etc) and to see if there is enough help to keep the patient safe.