Using Estate Planning to Prepare for Medicaid
Careful planning in advance can help protect your estate for your spouse or children. If you make a plan before you need long-term care, you may have the luxury of distributing or protecting your assets in advance. This way, when you do need long-term care, you will quickly qualify for Medicaid benefits.
What To Do With Your Stimulus Check if You Are in a Nursing Home
As the second round of stimulus checks go out, it is important to know that nursing home residents are not required to turn their checks over to their nursing home. And Medicaid recipients need to spend the cash within a year if it puts them over Medicaid’s resource limit. In December 2020, Congress approved $600 […]
How Your Stimulus Check Affects Medicaid Eligibility
With the pending approval of a second round stimulus payments under the Senate’s HEALS Act, this provides a good reminder for how the first wave of payments were calculated. The coronavirus relief bill includes a direct payment to most Americans, but this has Medicaid recipients wondering how the payment will affect them. Because the payment […]
Millennials are the new "Sandwich Generation"
Baby Boomers are aging out of the “Sandwich Generation”
CMS's Updated Financial Guidelines for Community Spouses in 2020
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have just released their guidelines regarding the “community spouse” for 2020. A “community Spouse” is the spouse of a Medicaid recipient who is living in a nursing home. There is an allowance threshold that applies to the community spouse, known as the CSRA or community spouse resource allowance […]
New Rule to Take Effect in September 2019 Repeals Ban Initiated to Retain Nursing Home Residents’ Health and Safety
Nursing homes have you sign a multitude of documents as a part of the admissions process. One of those documents- banned under President Obama, is called an Arbitration Agreement. By signing these agreements, patients or family members gave up their right to sue if they believed the nursing home was responsible for injuries or the […]
How to Choose the Right Home Care Provider
Aging in place is the goal; wanting to stay in our homes as long as possible is the most quintessential decision one can make. One of the hardest choices to make is selecting the appropriate in-home provider for your loved one and yourself. There are many criteria from which to choose. The first would be […]
The Medicaid “Look-Back” Period and the Impact it has in Regards to Your Eligibility Determination
The terms Medicare and Medicaid are sometimes used interchangeably when, in fact, they are very different programs. Medicaid is a means-based program designed for those who have very few assets. As such, penalties are in place to avoid people taking advantage of the system. Transfers of all amounts and reasons are heavily scrutinized by Medicaid […]
How Can I Keep my Home Safe from Medicaids’ Grip
A common perception of applying for Medicaid and moving into a nursing home is that you will lose your home. While you aren’t required to sell your home to qualify for Medicaid nursing home care, the state could potentially make a claim against your house upon your passing. People’s first inclination is often to give […]
When Things Fall Apart by Smilie G. Rogers, Esq.
The last couple of weeks we have been preparing tax returns, preparing MaineCare applications and dealing with client matters when things fall apart generally. Here are some observations from the field at the end of a long day: Getting financial institutions to recognize powers of attorney can be a real struggle. Is your power of […]
