Medicaid spend down?

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Medicaid spend down?

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I cannot seem to get a straight answer either from Medicaid or the community Office on Aging about what happens if my dad gets Medicaid now, but since he doesn't need it yet (but could very well need it before the end of the year for home aides), can we wait out the spend down until he does need it? I want to get Medicaid approved now because the lookback period becomes 2.5 years in April and I know he created penalties during that time with his money. When he does need it, then I would get a pooled trust for the money he gets that is over the $875 limit so he can pay all his bills and food and avoid the spend down. Does anyone know anything about what happens if he does get Medicaid now, and doesn't address the spend down until later in the year?

Asset Limits Medicaid Medicaid Spend Down

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He’s not going to be approved for Medicaid BEFORE the spend down. You can’t apply now, get him approved and then “spend down” later. He’ll be denied now if he has too many assets.

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Also this:

http://www.wnylc.com/health/news/85/

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FANTASTIC! Oh, thank you so much for pointing this out!

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.agingcare.com/articles/amp/198738

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Thank you!!!

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JLo, can't you get a free one-hour consult with an eldercare attorney?

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Idk. That is a long amount of time for them to be giving away! I can try.

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JLo, what is the downside of applying now?

The life of an elder can change in a minute. I think it would be better to be qualified ahead of time rather than wait for an emergency.

And why would the AAA tell you to apply if it isn't the right thing to do?

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The downside would be if he has to put all his extra income into a pooled trust now. I just don't know what happens if you let an approved Medicaid just sit and ignore their spenddown for months. Idk why, but when I asked someone again at the office on aging, they said they thought it might be a problem but to call Medicaid and they did not seem to know either. It's not good that no one in charge knows...

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There's no need to apply for medicaid way before it's needed. If there are too many assets to qualify, why not spend them down now and then qualify? Make an appt with an elder care atty to get your answers and a possible a way to preserve your dad's assets.

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There's no money for an attorney. He gets a bit more in SS than the Medicaid limit which is $875 and a bit sometimes from another source. So in NYS you have a pooled trust that takes the excess and saves it from Medicaid's reach so you can pay your bills. My question is just about the spend down of monthly income. He has way under the allotted asset amount. The reason I would like to do it now is because in April the lookback for community Medicaid extends to 2.5 years and there are many penalties in that time period.

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I don't see how your dad could get Medicaid now if his assets are high enough that he would need to spend down. I think I read somewhere that the application should be started when the person is within a few months of spending down their assets. If he ends up needing home health aides, he'd have to pay them privately out of his assets until the assets are spent down.

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Thank you. I was encouraged by the Office on Aging to not wait, but to apply now even though we don't know when he will need help. That is what was so confusing. But in NYS there are pooled trusts to keep Medicaid from taking the overage amount (which is not very much) so he can still pay his bills. It's not about assets that I'm asking, it's about the overage on monthly income.

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Medicaid spend down?

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