He was approved in May 2018. I do not know what amount of money that I will be able to keep for me to live on (it’s February 2019.) Our house has remained in my name bc I had it before we were married but I’ve relied on his income to make house payments along with a lot of our bills. I’m 51 yrs old and my husband will be 74...I have no clue what I’m doing. I should have realized this could happen.
You're only 51: do you have no income of your own?
I'm afraid I know nothing useful about Medicaid, but lots of forum members do and I'm sure they will soon have helpful advice for you, including how to figure out what you are allowed to keep for your own use out of shared property and income.
Your husband is rather young to need a nursing home. What happened, if you don't mind my asking?
Are you left completely on your own or do you have other family and friends around you?
Is the credit card your husband's own or are you also an account holder? Are repayments already late?
Anyway - one thing at a time, remember. Everything is solvable in the end. Feel better.
My husband had signs of dementia for about 3 years but I kept telling myself he was just tired. He was officially diagnosed 2 years ago. I was taking care of him here at home until it just was too much for me.
No I’m not completely on my own I live in my hometown with my parents across town...12 blocks from my house. My daughter and her family live 3 blocks from me and my son is in college but graduates in May. So I have lots of people around me but none of them understand even tho they listen patiently to me. I didn’t plan or expect this at my age.
There's only one credit card I’m unsure of bc I’m not on the acct except as an authorized user not as the guarantor. The other credit card we had like this they just needed the date he was admitted and called the care home to verify it and I’ve heard nothing more.
Thank you for your reply
You need a certified Elder Care attorney; you want to look for one who is NAELA certified.
NOW Hubs under LTC Medicaid is required to pay his monthly income to the NH.
HOWEVER if you as the CS needs some or all of this income to yourself continue to live on the community, his monthly income can be waived to instead go to be paid to you rather than the NH. The $ waived is the CSrA or MMNA. What it’s called and how the $ amount is determined is set by your states Medicaid program. Each stAtes Medicaid is administer uniquely but within over federal guidelines. There was a poster on this site who had had dad in a home with mom the younger wife getting all of his income less like $48.00 and his $50 a mo personal needs allowance. Yeah the NH got only $48 as her mom needed all his income as she had a mortgage and higher health care costs and other extraordinary expenses.
That the facility your hubs is now in did not mention this to you, well I’m not surprised. They have no requirements to do so as it kinda on the giving legal advice tightrope line and plus it would mean stickier accounting and less $ each mo to them.
To me, kids doing their parents individual LTC Medicaid application can be totally done if you’ve been involved in their life and kinda know where stuff is and have fairly decent legal already done. But CS situations really, really needs experienced elder law atty and that means one who is NAELA or CELA level. And not to just get you the max CSRA but also look at other aspects of “what happens when” scenarios.
Some states have CSRA pretty high. Like TX - which calls theirs MMNA - is almost about 3k. So say in theory, Ricky in a NH only has SS as income and gets $2800 a mo (which is almost the 2019 max SS $ of $2,861 a mo.) But Lucy is FRA for SS and still living in the home and does not work outside of the home, has Mortgage and her own medical care costs shows she needs $3,500 a mo as her “nut”. Her SS pays her $1400 a mo as she gets 1/2 his. But she is still short $2,100. Her atty files for a waiver of his required monthly copay or SOC (share of cost) to the tune of $2100. Waiver is her MMNA, so each month NH only gets paid $640 written as a check from a bank account that solely gets his SS and the $60 a mo TX personal needs allowance can either stay in that checking account or some/all of it can go to a personal needs trust account at the NH for him to use to pay for the onsite barber shoppe.
$2800 his income - $ 2100 her MMNA = $700 left - $60 his personal needs allowance = $ 640 copay or SOC to the NH. Her income of $1400 is NOT a factor in his eligibility. As long as she spends it all or it doesn’t add-into her allowable exempt assets that takes to above the Medicaid limit (varies by state most at abt $119k), it should NOT affect his Medicaid eligibility. Only he has to be impoverished for Medicaid, not you.
I will say, by you all already doing the Medicaid application, it mucks up getting the CSRA/MMNA as it’s easier to do this initially as well as move $ ahead of the “snapshot” day that Medicaid affixes your income & assets as a couple to be. But it’s not a total screwed the pooch forever situation... a good NAELA atty can get an appeal going to basically get a reset of his application. It’s not a DIY. Get an atty & good luck!