How do I find out if my 78 year old mother qualifies for Medicaid?

You need to call TriCare. As the spouse of a veteran, your mother qualifies for "aide and attendance." There will be some paperwork for you and her physician to complete. I have placed the official website below:
benefits.va.gov/pension
Make certain to use only the government website as others will try and sell you something.
Suzanne

Yes, there's a 'look back' period for Medicaid, too, and I suspect it may be lengthened as the baby boom ages and the demand increases. Imagine if everyone quickly transferred their wealth to their children just in time to let the taxpayers pay for their nursing care. Medicaid is meant for the truly indigent, not as 'free' long term care insurance. If someone has the funds to pay for their own care, they should.
It's sad when someone works hard all their life to accumulate a nest egg to leave to their children and then uses it up paying the nursing home. The question we ought to be asking ourselves as a society is – why has it become so costly to die?
That's a topic for another thread!

Consult an elder care attorney. There are ways to get around the spend down and other issues to apply for Medicaid. Don't spend down anything yet...Consult an elder care attorney first. Most consultations are free or even if you have to pay...think of the problems they can help you solve. They will be able to help or they will tell you they can't.

the Reason for the 5 year look back is most people( to their disadvantage do not understand Medicaid).
Many become indignant when you address it; "Mom has $300,000, that is not us".
at $8,000 a month or more how long does each $100,000 last?
So most people will not do proper preplanning, and when a Nursing Home environment is needed; are forced to use all their assets.
Even if assets are transferred to Irrevocable Trust (not revocable), the trust is overridden by the 5 year look back.until 5 years passes
A house must also be placed in trust to 'protect it'
How many families end up helping towards care, parent goes into NH and have to go thru spend down, they think they will get reimbursement out of a house sale, but it is subject to Medicaid Estate recovery
Did not do proper Funeral trust planning either.
Those who think wartime era Veterans Aid and Attendance will pick up the tab must know the Veteran gets $1,732 a month and surviving spouse gets $1,113
There are planning parameters for that, and preplanning before applying is critical,
I meld VA, Medicaid and Medicaid exempt Funeral trust planning, into preparations I do for families in Georgia Asset Preservation to supplement Medicaid Care is a great outcome when that works with some asset cases.
If someone is on VA and goes on Medicaid in a NH, the VA allows the Veteran $90.

I have seen many families inquire a bout proper VA planning assistance, and not follow thru, and completely disregard the parallel need for Medicaid Planning,
to their dismay sorry a few years later.

There needs to be a more universal and more comprehensive way to fund our long-term care expenses when we become elderly, frail, afflicted with dementia and unable to take care of ourselves. As it is now, there is no limit to what a person can spend on himself during his "golden years" -- gambling, entertainment, expensive vacations, an RV, etc. and when he runs out of money he can go onto government assistance Medicaid. Someone else might live frugally, buy long-term care insurance, forego the expensive lifestyle, and be able to pay for his own care at least for a while. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of disincentive for people to live large and spend their money on their own pleasures -- except that a Medicaid nursing home is less likely to be a person's first choice of where to live. You lose an element of choice when you are not a private-pay. Since ours is a consumer-driven economy, people are bombarded with advertising encouraging them to spend. Truly, there should be an education campaign to urge people to manage their resources with an assumption that they WILL have long-term care expense at the end of life. And it is NOT cheap. I'd like to see Medicare expanded to include coverage of long-term care, at least partially, because no middle-class or lower-class person can possibly afford the high cost of such care on his own.

You can spend down her monies to $1500 and apply for Medicaid. If you get Aid and Attendance and is on a waiver program which pays for assisted living, she will only be able to keep $90. Good luck.
Marie

Before one ages to a point where we do not know our right hand from our left, or our elbow from our___, I might suggest that we transfer all assets into the name of one of the children or trusted relative. Why "spend down"? Why not consider a Revocable Living Trust? Am I wrong about this? Tell me something I do not know....Financial Planner? Elder-care lawyer?
Everyone that I knew who entered a Nursing Home paid out of pocket and did not rely on any government assistance, federal or state.

I believe the look back period for a Irrevocable Trust is 5 years for Medicaid.

Apply for Aid and Attendance, Medicaid too. You have to spend down to $1500 in Ohio. You are allowed $2400 a month income to be on Medicaid Waiver which pays for assisted living. Pre-pay for a funeral. Talk to a good estate planning attorney. Good luck.

Why can't the democrats and the republicans get together and figure out what to do? This is a problem for everyone but the very richest and the very poorest. The only way to avoid this problem is to die young.