We just did LTC Medicaid application for my husband's sibling. Sibling signed a form at the time allowing my husband to act on his behalf in dealing with the state dhhs. Hubby had to send copy of poa with the packet of financial information that was requested for the financial eligibility portion of the application. I would suspect other states' Medicaid systems have something similar
AnnReid, I agree with your tact . In my experience some social workers are so busy they don't have time for personal interaction, especially during the virus lockdown. And I think it also depends on if the senior lives in a very populous county where the social workers are overloaded or not. We were lucky, my MIL lived just outside the suburban ring so she got good personal interaction BUT the Medicaid people were extremely hard to talk to live (sometimes I'd get calls from them at 6:30pm and other weird hours) and it was very cut and dry — sort of like dealing with the IRS. Them "getting to know" applicants or hearing applicants' "personal stories" has absolutely no bearing on someone's qualifying or how fast an app is processed — they cannot release much other info to applicants and are bound by their internal rules as to what they can do for you. It was a shock to go from the friendliness and helpfulness of our assigned social case worker to dealing with the Medicaid office. Completely different experiences, so have tempered expectations.
I've gotten by with simply explaining to my MIL's contact people that I am "advocating" (use that word specifically) for someone, plus when asked, providing the PoA. FYI some institutions will only accept meeting actual named PoA in person with the original paperwork in hand (such as banks and some investment entities) and other times I've had to mail in my original and it was returned. It depends on your county, state, and organization you are interacting with.
A general comment, but it has worked VERY WELL for me.
If you are able, and conveniently do so, contacts made person to person have worked much better for me than anything I ever did on line or mailed in.
I have a 2 paragraph statement written by a geriatric psychiatrist that states that my dependent relative is incapable of managing her own affairs, and that I am responsible for her.
The combination of that statement and my POA has opened every door and made every connection that I’ve needed to make in the past 2 1/2 years.
If you NEED to provide a POA, make a copy of it and send that. In my state I have the only copy of the POA that has the legal stamp on it.
When I filled out the Medicaid app (that they send you or you can download) for my MIL there is an area where the applicant can designate a representative to provide the applicant's information. They never asked us for PoA proof on the form I filled out in 2016.
I've gotten by with simply explaining to my MIL's contact people that I am "advocating" (use that word specifically) for someone, plus when asked, providing the PoA. FYI some institutions will only accept meeting actual named PoA in person with the original paperwork in hand (such as banks and some investment entities) and other times I've had to mail in my original and it was returned. It depends on your county, state, and organization you are interacting with.
If you are able, and conveniently do so, contacts made person to person have worked much better for me than anything I ever did on line or mailed in.
I have a 2 paragraph statement written by a geriatric psychiatrist that states that my dependent relative is incapable of managing her own affairs, and that I am responsible for her.
The combination of that statement and my POA has opened every door and made every connection that I’ve needed to make in the past 2 1/2 years.
If you NEED to provide a POA, make a copy of it and send that. In my state I have the only copy of the POA that has the legal stamp on it.