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alexmerced Asked March 2019

Can a facility deny an elderly person Medicaid? And why is it such a difficult process?

My dad has been in a nursing home 6 yrs and has been paying out of pocket half the rent, now of course in 2013 it was only 2700 a month and now its up to $6000 a month, he has depleted his bank account (started with $125,00 6 yrs ago) now has about $1000, I have been trying to move him to a facility with Medicaid for about a month now and it's so difficult, plus now I work full time 40 hrs a week, so I have to do all emails and phone calls after work or on weekends, I actually took off early yesterday to meet with someone because I thought I would be beginning the process of filling out paperwork because she stressed me for 2 weeks to meet with her, after I sent her numerous emails of my dads bank statement, monthly expenses, rent paperwork, medical insurance paperwork and bills, and other monthly bills and expenses. The meeting was nothing, a waste of time really, my dad HAS to move from his current nursing home by April 1st because his income (retirement and SSI) is only $3700 which will not cover his current rent amount of $6000 a month. Now the one important question I have is that they are requesting 5 yrs of bank statements!! What is the actual purpose of this? When you can clearly see in his last bank statements his deposits and withdrawals? and can a person be denied Medicaid? I have a feeling I will encounter an issue which is when my mom was alive (she passed in 2013), my parents promised to pay my daughters (their only granchild) education for college, and they had a college savings fund for her, now granted there was only about $900 in there when I consolidated all the bank accounts in 2013 after my mom passed, so it shows on my dad's banking account the tuition, which was about $4,000 a year (she graduates with a degress this May!) and I was not gonna deny her a college education since I heard my parents talk and promise her for the past 15 yrs! Now will that go against my Dad applying for Medicaid? What happens in this case? What should I do? where else can I move him? honestly for the past 6 yrs all my dad does is sleep 24 yrs a day he hasn't gotten up out of bed and I think its all the meds, and thats a whole different story! he is $5000 in debt to a medical comp now!


Another question, sorry I have no one to ask and I've been trying to get these answers years! I'm trying to lower his monthly expenses so I deleted his phone service and cable($50 a month) stopped payment on his burial plot ( $50 a month for like 10 yrs) my question is: Does he need dental and vision insurance? He currently pays about $600 a month out of pocket for medical insurance to 5 different companies. I have no idea why! sorry I've never had to deal with this, I'm single with a kid, and always made less than $9 an hr so im considered poverty level so I've been on state insurance for 22 yrs!


This situation has been so stressful for the past 3 months when this all started! The place he stays at now said they will throw him out when he runs out of money (next month)


So the biggest and most important question (and last) is where do the poor elderly people live when they are sick???????

alexmerced Mar 2019
i will consider that a gift since my mom passed that was the deal, I cant afford college or anything extra at the moment , im a single mom making $10 a hr and my bills exceed my income, so I dont know how anyone would be able to pay it back.. thats ridiculous if my dad has to pay it back! insane! he cant even afford rent at the moment and wont have any extra money after march! they told me he has to find another place to stay when his money runs out which will be in a few weeks had to pay $5600.00 rent today for march

anonymous839718 Mar 2019
They do a five year look back for or trying to hide assets. If he was paying your daughters’ tuition that could very well be considered a gift. Medicaid may request that money be paid back for his care. In most cases he would have to self pay a certain number of days to cover that gifting penalty. As stated by another poster check with an elder attorney to see if anything can be done.

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bettina Mar 2019
I would pay for a good elder care attorney to advise you. I don't know if it is too
late but it may still be possible to formalize the agreement of tuition payments for your daughter. I know the last thing you want is to pay more $ right now, but there are some tricky angles regarding Medicaid, gifting, and also the private pay nursing homes that retain the right to eject patients. Good luck with your efforts!
Hopefully more folks will post here, some people on this board have a really good grasp of the Medicaid process.

JoAnn29 Mar 2019
By the way, the facility doesn't deny him Medicaid, Medicaid denies him. If the except Medicaid they should except him.

JoAnn29 Mar 2019
Medicaid asks for 5 years of statements bit with my Mom they only took 4 a year out of the five years so ask about that. They look for inconsistencies. Which daughters "gift" may stick out. This may cause a penalty. Which means you may have to pay back the "gift". Are you talking to the NH or Medicaid. If the nursing home, I would talk to Medicaid.

They cannot "kick" him out. He has lived there for 6 years. They have to make sure he is released to a safe place. Call your state Ombudsman and see if they can help.

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