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We would like to get my Mother into a nursing home that is not in the Medicaid HMO Sponsored Program that we have (New York). We were told to dis-enroll which will take effect on February 28, 2014from the HMO. The Home my Mother is currently in has all of the paperwork to enroll in regular Medicaid but have yet to file for months now.

We were told today that you have to completely dis enroll before you can even apply for regular Long Term Medicaid. This worries us as we do not want to have no coverage as of March 1, 2014.

Does anyone know how this works because we are really confused.....!

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Open enrollment is usually in Nov-Dec so your timing is all wrong. Talk to mom's caseworker ASAP.
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I don't think there's an open enrollment period period for Medicaid like there is for Medicare. Going from the HMO Medicaid to getting into the straight Medicaid program with a probably larger choice of providers, may depend on the type of income being received (SSI and/or Social Security) which changes around the beginning of the year with COLA changes. If there is some new paperwork to be done or the annual renewal of the Medicaid and the NH isn't getting it done, get it done yourselves. My experience is not with NY state but the concept is likely similar.
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Nursing homes may be awesomely excellent in providing resident care, but can be piss-poor at completing paperwork and giving financial advice. Talk directly to your mother's case worker. You may even be better off consulting an attorney who specializes in Elder Law, than risk being without Medicaid coverage for a month or more.

You will be able to make this work. Just don't count on the nursing home to do it for you.
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Thanks for the information everyone. I am pretty sure there is no open enrollment period for Medicaid, but for dis enrollment you had to file for the 15th for it to go through for the first. We did it on January 20th, so the dis-enrollment will take place as of March 1st. It does not make any sense to me that you cannot apply for straight Medicaid until you are totally dis-enrolled. I cannot imagine why we would need to wait. If I did not know better I would think the person in the Nursing Home does not know what she is doing but since I do not know either right now, I am trying to research it. Going to the Government sites or trying to call Medicaid is impossible.
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It may take a while for your application to go thru but it is likely coverage will pick up March 1. The standard is to have Medicaid applications processed within 45 days. The approval goes back to the date of application (but in your case starting after the other coverage ends). With the flood of applications for Medicaid under the expanded number of people now eligible it is probably going to go past March 1 before the process is completed for you. In our state the best way to get your paperwork to the top of the stack on the caseworker's desk is to plan to spend a day in their office. When you finally get to be seen make enough of a fuss to get to speak to the worker's manager but not so much as to get thrown out. The manager will pressure the worker to get your case done so they don't have to deal with you again. I'm speaking from experience from the workers side of the desk. It is quite likely that the NH person doesn't know what they're talking about.
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my concern is the Medicaid expert who is supposed to submit the request on our behalf has not done so. She is saying that she CANNOT submit it until March 1st when the dis-enrollment is completed. This does not seem right, and we think it needs to be submitted ASAP as it will take time to process.
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