My husband is in a nursing home ....... nursing home is applying for Medicaid...... I know I have to show his life insurance policy but, they want mine too. Do I have to give that information?
Jna - medicaid when there’s a community spouse (you as your staying in your home & living in the “community”) is way way more complicated than an medicaid application for a widow or widower.
You as a CS are NOT expected to impoverish yourself. Only hubs has to meet the tight financial limitations of LTC Medicaid and be impoverished with only 2k in assets & in theory his monthly income getting paid to the NH. Your income is NOT a factor in his eligibility and you are allowed to have your own assets (usually it’s 119k). Plus If you need some of his monthly income to cover your own household and health care expenses then you should get a waiver to have some or all of his own monthly income diverted (waived) to you via CSRA / MMNA instead of being paid to the NH. But doing stuff like this is kinda overwhelming for a CS as your focused on your hubs.
Neither the NH or Medicaid have to explain to you how your joint assets & your income can get shifted or restructured to benefit you (like have savings over 119k moved to income for you). Nor should they as that gets wading into legal issues. For a CS - to me - you really can benefit from having an elder law atty deal with his Medicaid application.
For women especially, our hubs usually have had the higher income. Having his SS & retirement & our joint savings removed from us places us into being financially insecure. 119k could be just fine for a CS that’s 92 but for a CS younger &/or likely to outlive the NH spouse by years or decades, it’s not enough. A good elder law atty can give you options as how to maximize the $. I’d try to get one that NAELA or CELA level of expertise.
Yes, they need to know both your assets. The insurance policy will only count if it has a cash value. If it doesn't or its an employers policy, those insurances won't count. Your assets will be split. You will get what u need to live and live in ur home. If husbands policy has cash value, you may have to cash it in. You can use the proceeds to prepay his funeral. They will need to know about stocks and shares and any investments.
Yes. They need to see all the assets. They will determine if they "count" or not. As I understand it, a term life insurance policy does not count. A whole life policy or annuity might count or it might not. The social worker at the NH should be able to give you more information on this issue or you could consult an elder care attorney for estate planning advice.
And anyone who is going to get Medicaid should not be the beneficiary of any wills, IRAs, 401ks, inheritances of all kinds or insurance policies. If they are, an attorney should really be consulted on how to do it properly or you are just leaving the money open to recovery.
Also it’s not exactly the NH that is requesting the insurance info. If LTC Medicaid in your state runs as I dealt with for my mom & mil in TX & LA, the NH has the states Medicaid application which is filled out at the NH between the incoming resident and thier family along with admissions at the NH. NH usually gives the resident, spouse or DPOA a list of items needed to accompany the application - this list comes from the state but the NH may type to up in their own format.
Why thier own format is cause the NH has a system they do to review the applications. For my mom in TX, listwas a page; but for MIL her NHs list was 2 pages. All this - the application & documentation- in turn the NH sends all to the state caseworker along with their (the NH) bill.
Also about the NH review, NH can a review the documentation to see if there seems to be any glaring issues or other redflag type of items (like home got sold recently and House sale $ is gone) that could/would / should be problematic and if so the NH won’t accept them as a “Medicaid Pending” resident. If this NH has any hesitation on admitting your hubs as “Pending” my suggestion is make a call to an elder law atty asap.
A good place to get information on this is your Area Agency on Aging. Every county in every state belongs to one. There are rules that protect the non-nursing home/medicaid applicant spouse. They will be glad to help you.
Ask them what the hey they need your information for....none of their business!
The only thing I can think of is IF he is the beneficiary, then Medicare is requiring ANY asset(s) he would have (should something happen to you) to be used as part of the PAY DOWN so they, Medicare, can get the money back.....depending on the supplemental policy he signed up for may require PAY DOWN for nursing home care.
Just like REVERSE MORTGAGES, STATE HELP, MEDICARE HAS BECOME A SCAM as well as AARP! You don't find out about these things until you use what you've always thought was "yours" to have.
Medicaid is not the same as Medicare.... Medicare covers medical expenses like doctors, hospitals, medication and for limited times rehab/nursing homes. Medicaid is a state run program backed by the federal government that can help people pay for LTC if they do not have the funds. It is income based (do you want your taxes paying for Bill Gates to stay in a nursing home, when he can well afford it?!?!?!)
As others have noted, the STATE has requirements about what is needed, etc, and those are just passed along through the NH. More than likely they do need to know ALL the facts...
Best bet is to consult with an Elder Care attorney as they know all the ins and outs about asset protection, applying for Medicaid, etc.
You as a CS are NOT expected to impoverish yourself.
Only hubs has to meet the tight financial limitations of LTC Medicaid and be impoverished with only 2k in assets & in theory his monthly income getting paid to the NH. Your income is NOT a factor in his eligibility and you are allowed to have your own assets (usually it’s 119k). Plus If you need some of his monthly income to cover your own household and health care expenses then you should get a waiver to have some or all of his own monthly income diverted (waived) to you via CSRA / MMNA instead of being paid to the NH. But doing stuff like this is kinda overwhelming for a CS as your focused on your hubs.
Neither the NH or Medicaid have to explain to you how your joint assets & your income can get shifted or restructured to benefit you (like have savings over 119k moved to income for you). Nor should they as that gets wading into legal issues. For a CS - to me - you really can benefit from having an elder law atty deal with his Medicaid application.
For women especially, our hubs usually have had the higher income. Having his SS & retirement & our joint savings removed from us places us into being financially insecure. 119k could be just fine for a CS that’s 92 but for a CS younger &/or likely to outlive the NH spouse by years or decades, it’s not enough. A good elder law atty can give you options as how to maximize the $. I’d try to get one that NAELA or CELA level of expertise.
And anyone who is going to get Medicaid should not be the beneficiary of any wills, IRAs, 401ks, inheritances of all kinds or insurance policies. If they are, an attorney should really be consulted on how to do it properly or you are just leaving the money open to recovery.
If LTC Medicaid in your state runs as I dealt with for my mom & mil in TX & LA, the NH has the states Medicaid application which is filled out at the NH between the incoming resident and thier family along with admissions at the NH. NH usually gives the resident, spouse or DPOA a list of items needed to accompany the application - this list comes from the state but the NH may type to up in their own format.
Why thier own format is cause the NH has a system they do to review the applications. For my mom in TX, listwas a page; but for MIL her NHs list was 2 pages. All this - the application & documentation- in turn the NH sends all to the state caseworker along with their (the NH) bill.
Also about the NH review, NH can a review the documentation to see if there seems to be any glaring issues or other redflag type of items (like home got sold recently and House sale $ is gone) that could/would / should be problematic and if so the NH won’t accept them as a “Medicaid Pending” resident. If this NH has any hesitation on admitting your hubs as “Pending” my suggestion is make a call to an elder law atty asap.
Perhaps you can visit an elder care attorney.
He can advise on ways to protect SOME assets and offer guidance on available financial aid.
The only thing I can think of is IF he is the beneficiary, then Medicare is requiring ANY asset(s) he would have (should something happen to you) to be used as part of the PAY DOWN so they, Medicare, can get the money back.....depending on the supplemental policy he signed up for may require PAY DOWN for nursing home care.
Just like REVERSE MORTGAGES, STATE HELP, MEDICARE HAS BECOME A SCAM as well as AARP!
You don't find out about these things until you use what you've always thought was "yours" to have.
As others have noted, the STATE has requirements about what is needed, etc, and those are just passed along through the NH. More than likely they do need to know ALL the facts...
Best bet is to consult with an Elder Care attorney as they know all the ins and outs about asset protection, applying for Medicaid, etc.