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My in-law has too much money while in an independent living facility. We just paid for the funeral services, what else can she do to keep her limit down? They cant have more than $2000.00.

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The spend down is to get her eligible for Medicaid in a facility, right?
So MIL is in IL now but will very soon be moving into AL or a NH? Right?

If so, & BEFORE she spends down more $$$, please pls clearly make sure that the facility (AL or NH) she is planning on moving into takes Medicaid from day 1 of her admission & allows her to be a resident under "Medicaid Pending" status;
Now if it's her moving into a NH, she must also meet the "at need" for skilled nursing care requirement for a NH entry, which means MD orders with health history showing need for skilled nursing care (could mean she's currently hospitalized & being discharged for LTC with no rehab).

Some states do NOT do Medicaid waivers for AL at all. Other states do waivers but have very narrow waiver requirements for vendors & a consequence of this is there are very few AL that participate in the waiver program and so for those that do their residents do usually 2 years of PP before a AL Medicaid bed can ever open. If mom spends all her $$ now, who is going to private pay her bill? 

How much $ are you talking about, 15k.... 50k....150k.....

Or is this about MIL in Section 8 type of independent living senior housing?
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She's in section eight independent living apartment now but, she's not spending money so we paid for her arrangements (4k). That took it down for now and we were actually told to get her a car, credit card, furniture... she's not NH status yet, but I will inquire about her continued care. Thanks for responding! very helpful.
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Please remember that once Medicaid starts paying for a facility, there will be no money left to pay for car loan, auto repairs, gas, car insurance, etc. Medicaid will require that all of a person's income less a small (less than $60) personal needs allowance be paid to the facility. Families don't always understand this. If money is run up on the credit card, there will be limited funds available to pay for credit card payments later and credit card companies want to be paid. Spend downs when someone is limited enough in income that they are already in subsidized housing might be better served to be clothing, mobility devices like cane or wheelchair, incontinence supplies if needed, a stock of any clothing or supplements not paid by insurance etc
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Section 8 & low income Medicaid seems to be very different for rules than what LTC in a facility Medicaid is.

A ? for you..... how did it surface that mil was “over”?
And is it the situation that sec 8 administration / housing staff is now actively looking at financials of residents? So mil was basically salting away $ each mo as she really doesn’t have things to spend on, her housing & utilities are covered, she’s got public transportation..... she really just has food & toiletries costs& her $ never has been an issue, but it built up and now it is “over”. Is that it?

It sounds like she’s being told to find something that’s a recurring debt - like a car or credit card payment - so that each mo she stays under the allowable income / asset limits. Is that kinda the situation.?

There’s a number of things she could do.....but what’s better depends on:
How much $ each mo is she over?
AND
Is your mil more than likely fine living in her section 8 for another 2 or 3 years?
Or is she in poor health & your thinking AL happening soon?
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She gets around well. we made the mistake of sending $ to her account in the beginning, but have sense stopped, that was an oops on our part. that why we quickly made the arrangements. Medicaid will be down the line a while but, when it kicks in I know for a fact credit card companies cannot make anyone other than the primary owner pay the remaining bill. Thank you both for sharing- I appreciate it.
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