How much savings is allowed to qualify for Medicaid?

Broad and general answer: $2000.
Also, all income must be below a certain amount, I know not what that is exactly. (pensions, Social Security, annuities, interest income, dividend from stocks, etc)
I suggest getting an elder care attorney (with care as some don't know how to fight their way out of a paper bag, literally). As a first step it would be fine to visit your county social services office and lay out the gist of mom's possessions and ask for guidance. Caution: Since Obamacare was enacted, your county may have an abundance of newer employees as SS offices. some do not know all that much about Medicaid.

Don't try to "hide" the money. Ain't gonna work. Whatever is gifted 5 years before going on Medicaid must be "used up" so to speak, before the award
commences.

If she owns a house, Medicaid will come after it once she passes away.
If she is married, that is a whole new ballgame.

Grace + Peace,

Bob

Unfortunately, not much. There is a five year look back and income requirements. She may need to spend down to be eligible. Does she have any dependents? You should make an appointment immediately with an elder law specialist! A consultation may save you lots of heartache and money.

We went through this process with my Mom. Steel yourself, it is a painful, difficult process. Best wishes!

I am pretty sure you can keep the family house. Check into it.

contact an elder attorney, the one we have is wonderful. they ask for alot of information in order to do their job but in the end, there is no way I could have done it on my own (for my dad whose is in NH). it depends alot on what they have, etc to determine what they can keep before Medicaid kicks in, my dad was a little more than the 2,000 so find a good Elder attorney.

I just recently went through the process of qualifying my Mom for Medicaid in Nebraska – she is in a nursing home. A lot of folks recommend getting an attorney, but I went at it on my own mostly because I had been taking care of her finances for nearly 5 years and kept very good documentation and records. I am not her POA (I am her Medical POA however) but her POA is pretty much worthless and told me to do whatever I chose and he'd sign off on it. He is a lawyer so I agree with OldBob1936 on some lawyers!! I did a lot of research early on when I knew I'd need to take care of these things for Mom. I'd recommend the same to you. The main thing for me was record keeping. I kept her checkbook up to date and balanced accounting for all her expenses. When it came time to sell her property (she had several) I worked with a realtor to sell it and had her POA sign off on all documents. I kept all the documents from the sale including inspections and estimates. I wrote notes in the memo lines of the checks to ensure accountability. My Mother is in a nursing home and the Social Worker there was a great deal of help. When Mom got down to 3 months of private pay, I completed the paperwork to start the Medicaid process. She was denied 3 times, once because she still had too much money (I knew this would happen, but I wanted to see what else I needed to work on). The second time was because her burial policy was too rich and caused her to go over her allotted allowance of cash which was $4000. The last time was because I had to explain why we sold the house for less than the appraisal. It was easy to explain away as there was structural damage and so on. The case-worker assigned to me was very helpful as well. Ultimately, I did not have to have the POA sign the documents because I was her daughter. I was able to get her qualified and covered without an attorney. Before I was through however, I had 2 inches of paperwork and many phone calls and letters back and forth but for me it was worth it because I believe I saved her thousands in attorney fees. Bottom line - spend down, sell everything and keep meticulous records if you do manage on your own. I do want to say that I went into her home and retrieved family heirlooms, papers and photos that were to be kept in the family, then held a public auction and deposited the funds from that into her account. I wish you good luck in the process – it is so hard to be an adult parent to an adult.

to LucindaD: that was great but my mother is still living so if there is only parent living that is good that you did what you did. but with my mother still living the attorney had to take into account what she could be left to live on, etc. And to me paying the attorney helped with the spend down to not have to deal with all the hassle of calls, etc. Plus with me taking my mom to doctors appts, etc and working I just didn't have time. Everyone's situation is different and we (my brother and I) spent hours trying just to find papers that my dad had managed to place all over the house so that in itself was time consuming. I had paying my parents bills for over a year so that record keeping was fine, it was finding insurance papers, fathers army discharge papers, etc so for those needing to apply for Medicaid.........do whats best for you and your situation.

Here's an article on this site that should help:
https://www.agingcare.com/articles/asset-limits-to-qualify-for-medicaid-141681.htm

I've also written a short e-book on this subject, which goes into much more detail about what assets a person can and cannot have when trying to apply for Medicaid: http://medicaidsecrets.com/eBooks.html

Good luck!

Under $2, 000.00 and there isva five year look back.

I have mentioned recently that my mother and I had owned our CA condo jointly that I now own and occupy alone. In September 2013, Mom had been moved to assisted living up in OR State to be near my relative who was better equipped to assist her. She started using Oregon Medicaid for her care when her funds ran out in December 2013. I am keeping all of Mom's CA financial records from 2008 up until the time she was moved out of CA's assisted living. Mom had passed away in November 2014 at age 95 and had used about $50K in Medicaid for her care. I hope my OR relative who had been executor/Medical POA had retained OR's financial records prior to Medicaid eligibility of December 2013. I will probably keep all retained CA records until after I sell my CA condo and all pertinent income taxes are properly filed; perhaps even retain those docs for ten addtitional years after future tax filing time(?).

I live in NY and was told that my mother could have $14,000 in her account, only to be used for things strictly for her. When she passes, if there is anything left, Medicaid gets it

I'm not really sure about the savings. I'm thinking you can't have much savings at all becaus Medicade would expect you to use the savings. When I tried to get Medicade my income was too high at $660 a month. That was several years ago. They stuck their noses into all my business, including my life insurance policy.

Interesting twist on NY allowance of $14K in mom's account for her use only.
Shifting gears":
On house: in my state in NC, someone on Medicaid and in a nursing home, can have a house and keep until death by indicating that he/she intends to return to the home when "better." Once the person on Medicaid dies the state takes back (or attempts to)take back) the money awarded to mom/dad on Medicaid.

Someone mentioned joint ownership on one of the previous posts...I have no knowledge of how that works...

Grace + Peace,

Bob

Life insurance, even if it's intended for funeral expenses (since, in theory, you don't get it until you die), counts against you as well. Cash it out and put as much as you can (varies by state) into a designated burial account at the bank.