Does anyone know if you can apply for Medicaid before it’s needed?

When your father needs a nursing home, the U.S. allows an individual to be admitted into a LTC facility while his Medicaid application is being reviewed,

In most U.S. states, the person needing LTC, cannot have more than $2,000 in assets, which is why many deed their homes to their children, or at least, place their homes into irrevocable trusts and title their vehicles into those irrevocable trusts.

It might be best for you to consult with an attorney. States have no master file of knowing your assets, credit reports provide a nice trail ... so if he has assets in a different State, it's best tell Medicaid everything. If he has more than one bank account, Medicaid will only be able to view the statements which he submits, but it's always best to reveal everything.

Does your father have Long-term care private insurance?

No, if your mean Medicaid for Longterm care. In my State you have 90 days from date of filing to get Medicaid all the info they need, this includes 5 yrs of bank statements. You need to have assets spent down to 2k, in my state. And you have to find a facility and get the person placed. If this is not done in the 90 days, then you start over.

You can get him on waiting lists for NHs that accept Medicaid. Those can be years long.

Is he on Community Medicaid for health insurance? Does he have a spouse (that is a more complicated situation and usually warrants using a lawyer)? Does he have assets he will need to spend down?

Be aware of the fact that if he ends up in the hospital and needs to go to rehab, it behooves you to have looked at all the local places, found out which ones accept Medicaid for LTC so that if rehab turns into a long term placement he doesn't need to move.

If this scenario happens, he can stay "Medicaid Pending" and payment will be made starting as of the date of the application.

Thus, I don't think you need to worry about applying early. But touring and researching are great ideas (once virus restrictions have been lifted).

Depends on what you mean by applying early. It's based on assets for the most part. If he has too much he'll get declined.

Sorry, yes I meant medicaid

You don't mean Medicare (health insurance for almost everyone over 65), which does NOT pay for nursing home care.

You mean Medicaid. It is very important for you to read up on the differences in these two programs. Medicaid is very state specific

There is community Medicaid which is a form of health insurance. It some state, you can be eligible for community Medicaid even if you are well above the poverty level.

For Nursing home Medicaid, there is a look back of several years during which the applicants finances are scrutinized. They must not have gifted monies or transferred assets to relatives.

I dont think that you can apply in advance for NH Medicaid. What you can do is make sure that you have easy access to 5 years of bank records for your loved one because that is what you will need for the application.