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dianelinda23 Asked December 2017

Nursing Home Care. Any suggestions?

Hello, My mother is 78 and in poor health (multiple co-morbidities). She should be in a nursing home. She has a federal pension of approximately $4,000 monthly (gross) and no other assets. Would she qualify for Medicaid assistance? If not would she be able to find a nursing home in that price range?

igloo572 Dec 2017
Is this a traditional federal retirement so it’s technically a civil service “annuity” with paperwork coming out of OPM & the retirement can’t double dip into SS so just the annuity for income and mom has FEIB health insurance (perhaps federal group BCBS)?
or is it federally supervised RRB / railroad retirement?

Mom at 4K a mo doesn’t realistically have high enough monthly income to private pay for a NH. If she has her non exempt assets down to 2k, mom may be able to become eligible for Medicaid. But it’s not going to be the usual path as moms income at 4K will be over any states income limit.( Those totally vary by state with most coming in around $2100 a mo.) Mom would need to do a Miller Trust for the overage. Miller is NOT ever a diy. She needs an atty do do it. But civil service and rrb both have kinks in how Miller & LTC Medicaid needs to happen. My dad was a fed & hubs family has rrb so we had to look into both.

geewiz Dec 2017
Medicaid eligibility varies by state. You can do a computer search for rules in your Mom's state of residence. Facility costs also vary by geographic region and type of facility. In my area, Nursing homes average $12,000/month. Assisted living facilities average close to $7,000/month. There are group carehomes that cost less. Assess your Mom's needs and investigate facilities. You don't want to pay more that necessary. Is your Mom also receiving social security? Does she own a home? Is she or her husband a veteran, sometimes that entitles you to assistance. Most facilities are quite knowledgeable about the assistance that is available and who qualifies for what. The costs I offered are from the northeast, other area of the country are more reasonable!

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