Is a supplemental insurance needed when a person has Medicare and Medicaid?

I had the same question when Mom went on Medicaid and was told by Medicaid it wasn’t needed. So I cancelled her Aetna advantage plan, now she just has Medicare and Medicaid. No problems. However was her $240/mo payment disclosed during the Medicaid application and is excluded from the amount of her cost sharing? In other words are they allowing her the funds to pay it? If so, and you cancel it, you may be required to disclose that you no longer have this expense, so they may increase your cost sharing. When I cancelled moms I had to pay the “savings” to the NH.

My mom has been on medi-care & Medi-caid (medi-cal since she is in California.) She too had a supplement she paid for herself but needed to because at the time she had in home care & needed to pay for addt'l insurance to bring her share of cost down for the medi-cal. It gets complicated. Now years later she is in skilled nursing long term care. Has medi-care & medi-cal & kept the supplemental insurance. I don't know if it is needed to but I was afraid not to as looking at explanation of benefits it is being used. Medi-cal lets her keep the funds to pay it but if I cancel it I need to let medi-cal know & then the amount goes to the nursing home instead. So either way mom doesn't get the money. She gets only $35.00 a month out of her social security the rest to nursing home & or insurance. I figured why not keep the insurance  can't hurt. I think they do this because then thats less they need to pay if another insurance picks up part of a medical bill but I'm only guessing. Assisted living is different than skilled nursing long term. Good luck maybe more people have some insight. I also pay for prescription drug plan monthly but that I understand became mandatory for medi-care.

If she receives Medicaid, it is because she doesn't have enough money to pay for her care. Who is paying for her Supplement (Mutual of Omaha)? It doesn't make any sense to me that she would continue the Supplement, unless for some reason her Medicaid status is only temporary.

personal experience - If you drop the Medicare supplement, that $240 will then need to go to the NH ! Medicaid mandate.

When my MIL went into a nursing home on Medicaid, we were thinking the same thing several people here are saying -- she wouldn't need her Medicare supplement plan and the money currently paying for it would go toward nursing home care along with the rest of her income except for the small monthly personal care amount. However, MIL's social worker said no, keep the policy. MIL will be allowed to pay for it. Medicaid preferred to have the insurance paying for some of MIL's medical needs, even though it meant Medicaid would need to pay more of her nursing home costs.

This may vary by state, I don't know. Does your mother have a social worker you could talk to? That was the person who was most helpful to us when we were trying to figure out Medicaid.

She does not need A Medicare supplement.

Dogperson- thank you for your insight it helps me too.

I went through this situation as well and I asked the Elder Lawyer who helped us with the Medicaid application.

His suggestion was to KEEP Medicare Supplement, 1. because if she did not, then that money would automatically go to the NH anyhow, and 2. there are doctors who your loved one might need who only take Medicare and its supplements, and not Medicaid.

That seemed to make sense to me, so I have stayed with the Medicare supplemental insurance for my Mother.

I wonder if a local center on aging could help you. I would not rely on the company selling the policy to decide whether it should be purchased. What you might want is a copy of the policy so you see what it covers.

Bella, if Mutual of Omaha will not talk to you, tell them that you will get the state Insurance Commissioner after them. I worked in insurance for many years, but I never had to deal with something like that.