Dad wants to give some of his money to us before Medicaid takes over. Is this possible?
He was admitted to a Nursing and rehab facility and medicare has run its course. He has a retired teachers pension and social security and a small amount of savings.
If your dad is at the point if already bring in a facility and "at need" to stay there, it's just too too late to do any creative with his assets. He is just going to have to spend down savings & any other assets on his care before medicaid will pay.
The Medicaid application will require months of bank statements, his insurance polices, the awards letters from his pension & SS, etc. Moving funds now will cause a transfer penalty issued against your dad which will make him ineligible for medicaid to pay the facility for his stay. The documentation required for the application is pretty detailed. For my mom, it was 3 years & 6 mos of bank statements alone and a letter from her bank as to the disposition of any & all CD, Tbills, money market contacts for 5 years prior as well.
If he does not have a prepaid no cash value funeral & burial policy done, that is a good spend down, as is new hearing aid, new eyeglasses & dental work ( these are minimal or not at all covered by medicaid). Spending on elder lawyer to do a will or a codicil to an old one is also a good spend down. But at this late point, gifting or transferring to family will cause a penalty.
NO he can't give it away!!! If he does, Medicaid will deny the application until it is all paid back!! Yikes!! My MIL wants to do the same thing and we have to keep saying NO!!!
Check out your states Medicaid "spend down" rule but as far as I know & above answers state; using his money for his care is an expense Medicaid will allow and there is the "5 year look back". You also may be able to use his money to pay for an elder care attorney who can assist you with the process of applying for Medicaid; it is complicated!
Your father's funds are for his care. Medicaid takes over when a person has depleted their savings and is considered "destitute" - i.e. less than $2000 in assets in most states. If he "gifts" money to children/friends/etc. it will be included in the 5 year lookback for Medicaid and a transfer penalty will be imposed. Medicaid won't pay for a certain period determined by the lookback period. There are many articles and threads dealing with this topic. If you have a caregiver agreement for his payment to you for services, that may be honored by Medicaid but putting one in at this late date would probably not work. If he has extra money, he would be better served by purchasing a new walker/wheelchair, extra glasses, new hearing aids, etc. Giving his money to family instead of using for his care defeats the idea of Medicaid.
Yes, he can give you money before Medicaid. But for it to count it would have to be 5 years before he applies for Medicaid. The long arm of the law and computers, banks etc. know what you are doing, so to speak.
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The Medicaid application will require months of bank statements, his insurance polices, the awards letters from his pension & SS, etc. Moving funds now will cause a transfer penalty issued against your dad which will make him ineligible for medicaid to pay the facility for his stay. The documentation required for the application is pretty detailed. For my mom, it was 3 years & 6 mos of bank statements alone and a letter from her bank as to the disposition of any & all CD, Tbills, money market contacts for 5 years prior as well.
If he does not have a prepaid no cash value funeral & burial policy done, that is a good spend down, as is new hearing aid, new eyeglasses & dental work ( these are minimal or not at all covered by medicaid). Spending on elder lawyer to do a will or a codicil to an old one is also a good spend down. But at this late point, gifting or transferring to family will cause a penalty.
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