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Cannot take care of self. She cannot dress self, eat meals, go to toilet, and move around, Must have some one to help here and watch her at all times. Does she qualify for financial help from medicare, She is 88 years old.

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As gladimhere said, Medicare coverage is limited. Many long-term care policies will partially cover in-home care, but otherwise you are on your own until you've spent down your assets.

Since you are married, you should see an elder law attorney to see what you can keep for yourself and what needs to be spent down from personal money for your wife before she qualified for Medicaid. In some states, Medicaid will pay for in-home care (smart), but in others, they only pay for nursing home care. So much depends on where you live that an elder law attorney or estate attorney who knows Medicaid law well should probably be consulted.
Good luck,
Carol
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Medicaid is state run, so just what is offered will depend on how your states program is set up. Many states have in home services. Now realistically you may have to think about the future and if a nursing home placement may need to be considered if she is truly 24/7 and it just isn'f feasible for you. It's not an easy or simple issue, really this is so difficult for spouses.

I'd like to add to GladInHere's post, for an individual Medicaid applicant, the asset limit is 2K but for couples the whole asset & income situation is very VERY different. It is really important that you understand what can mean (and doesn't mean). The state - which runs Medicaid - does NOT expect you as the spouse to yourself become impoverished. You do NOT have to get yourself down to 2K in assets, just your wife does. Your wife may likely get approved for Medicaid without you having to do any spend down depending on just how much assets you all have.

For couples, your wife is the Medicaid applicant and her assets are limited to 2K and then her income (whatever she gets each month,like her SS or her retirement) will have to be less than whatever your state has set as it's income ceiling. Like for TX right now it's $ 2,163.00 for the max monthly income. But you are considered the "community spouse" - and the community refers to living in the community rather than community property. Most states have a community spouse resource allowance, which you can apply for. What the CSRA does is provide you $ from the Medicaid spouse's income that is exempt from Medicaid and you get to keep to enable you to continuer to live in your "community". the CSRA for TX right now is $ 2,931.00. Plus as the community spouse you can have up to 113K in liquid assets in most states. The whole community spouse situation can be pretty daunting to figure out. Do you have children who can help you figure out the income & asset situation for both of you & help with the paperwork? Personally for community spouse situations I think you are best in going to meet an elder law attorney (after you get together the details) to come up with options as how to have care for your wife for now at home and then perhaps for later on in a NH.

Some of the things are simple things to do, like if you - like most couples - have named each other as their beneficiary. Then that needs to be changed to another beneficiary so that if something happens to you, your wife does not get your life insurance policy as that would take her off Medicaid. Now whether the new beneficiary is your kids or grandkids or the attorney does up a special needs trust for her that becomes the beneficiary, well it all depends what works best for you all & what is OK in your state. Another thing for couples is the car situation. Most couples have 2 cars, well Medicaid allows for just 1. Often the extra car is given to a grandkid. Totally bad idea because that is considered gifting and not allowed under Medicaid so you get a penalty. Better idea is to trade both in and get 1 newer & more dependable car. Say you still have a mortgage, and say you owe 20K & you & your wife's assets are 130K, then paying off the mortgage is often a super good idea as you have to get your assets right below 113K and in a single action (paying off mortgage) this gets done. These are the sorts of things that can make or break good Medicaid planning. Really for community spouse having a good elder law or estate attorney who understands just what flies in your state will make it easier and probably keep you from spending down money that you didn't need to. Good luck, dear.
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Medicare will not pay for long term\permanant care. If in a rehab situation following a surgery or accident such as a fall medicare will pay for short term rehab in a facility if medically necessary.

If there are assets of less than $2,000.00 then you should apply for Medicaid.
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Oh another things, for community spouse & NH Medicaid for the other spouse, the state does a "snapshot" day in which all their assets are fixed based on that day. Usually it is the first day @ the NH or the date of the Medicaid application. For community spouse, it is really important that whatever they do to move funds around be done BEFORE the snapshot day. Like if they are paying the mortgage off, all that takes time and you really have to have everything pushed through the mortgage company, and your bank before the application is done. Ditto for insurance stuff as the insurance company seem to take forever of doing stuff…….

It may be different for Medicaid for at home services though. Maybe someone who has done this can put in their experience too.
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