In Georgia, does a term life insurance policy with no cash value count as an asset for Medicaid eligibility?

Jo-Ann the beneficiary of the policy gets the proceeds. Full stop.

This is the time to go thru your parents records to make sure there aren't policies you don't know about. Files marked Misc and Paid Bills is a good place to look. We found 4 policies my mother had taken out on herself and set them up as auto pay. We also found one that was defrauding her. I kept calling them (Good Sam Insurance) to find out if there was a cash value and they kept stalling. Finally they told me she had "aged" out 3 years earlier so they would not be paying anything to anyone. However they had continued to bill and collect her premiums every month and she was still paying them when we discovered this.

I have been through the spend down to Medicaid for my Mom who is now in a nursing home. She is in S. C. Term life has no interest or cash value so it is not a countable resource or asset. You would need to pay her premium out of your pocket though because there are strict rules on what is paid out of your Mom's account and you will be audited once per year to be sure you are being a good steward of the money. At least that's how it works in S.C. You may want to Google your question using your state name. I consulted an elder law attorney to be on the safe side about some of these things. It can get very tricky.

I have been through that spend down to Medicaid with handling my Mom's business. She is in the nursing home and lives in South Carolina. Term life has no cash value so it is not a countable resource or asset.

Don't know if my long answer went through... just saying that simply adding a beneficiary might not remove the policy from the deceased estate. You would probably need a life insurance trust to do that. See an estate planning lawyer in your State.

Not sure about the beneficary thing. I was told wills are null and void so why wouldn't a beneficiary on a policy be. Someone also mentioned a while back it depends on who owns the policy. If it's held by an employer Medicaid can't touch it. But if you paid for it then Medicaid can have u cash it in.

I'm always glad to see Mr. Heiser weigh in because he's always correct.

Terrell..if there is a named benificiary on the policy..the state can't go after the beneficiary for policy paid upon death

(i) only the cash value a policy with face value over $1,500 is countable for Medicaid eligibility purposes, and (ii) unless the beneficiary of the policy is the estate of the insured, the state cannot go after the proceeds following the death of the insured.

As other have said term insurance has no cash value being built up over the years. My mom had a $10,000 whole life policy and when she went on Medicaid , the policy had a roughly a $4,000 cash value. The $4000 was counted as an asset. Make sure her policy has a beneficiary listed . If not.., upon death, the $30,000 would be considered as part of her estate and medicaid may be able to take what's left after funeral expenses.

this policy will not prevent you from getting medicaid but at her death medicaid will ask for the value of the policy. they will say it is to be paid to them for reimbursement for funds they have paid. good luck

Agree with all other answers here. We had the same situation when my mother went into a NH on Medicaid. I filled out the application for her and simply included a copy of the policy showing that it had no cash value. Her only income was a small social security check, and my dad was still alive and likewise living only on a small social security check. So Medicaid allowed her income to stay with my dad, and he continued paying the premium on it. This was in Florida, and I should add that her income was only allowed to stay with him because they were very low income with no assets and to take her income from him would have left him indigent.

Agree with previous answers. Also, you might want to have her transfer ownership of the policy to you. That way she can't change the beneficiary to someone else on a whim or under someone's influence.

Guestshopadmin is right. If someone wants to keep the policy, they will have to take over the payments since she won't be able to.

No, it should not be if no cash value. But there will not be money to keep paying premiums on it besides the personal needs allowance.