Justin, My mother moved into a nursing home a few months ago and began privately paying the facility after their business office told her that she had no chance of qualifying for Medicaid until she spent her entire savings on care. After reading some of your articles I feel like we have been misinformed. Will my mother have to spend herself broke before getting help from Medicaid? – Ann
Ann, Thank you for the question. We hear of this scenario all too often. Although it is true that an applicant must have limited financial resources in order to qualify for Medicaid, they do not have to spend their savings down on long-term care expenses. In fact, our firm can most often save between 50% and 100% of a person’s assets while helping them to become qualified for Medicaid assistance through careful legal planning, even when they failed to plan years in advance.
Medicaid is a complicated area of practice and there is a significant amount of misinformation out there about the programs offered. It is imperative that you seek the advice of an Elder Law attorney when the time arises to plan for Medicaid. Unfortunately, the nursing home business office and other professionals are sometimes unaware of the planning opportunities that exist due to the complexity of Medicaid laws. Do not allow your mother to spend tens of thousands of dollars that she could legally protect.
