Medicaid Law Changes Enacted

On February 8, 2006, the Deficit Reduction Act of as 2005 was signed by President Bush, thus making major changes in the Medicaid eligibility rules. As with any major legislative initiative, the full ramifications of these changes won’t be known for several months. In the meantime, certain aspects of the bill are clear at this time. The first is that the Medicaid gifting or asset transfer rules have been changed so that the “lookback” period for all asset transfers is now 5 years. This includes […]

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What is Division of Assets?

Division of Assets is the name commonly s used for the Spousal Impoverishment s provisions of the Medicare Catastrophic Act of 1988. It applies only to married couples. The intent of the law was to change the eligibility requirements for Medicaid in situations where one spouse needs nursing home care while the other spouse remains in the community (i.e. at home or in an assisted living facility). The law, in effect, recognizes that it makes little sense to impoverish both spouses when only one needs […]

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Are Married Couples Required to Spend Down One-Half of Their Assets in Order to Qualify for Medicaid?

The simple answer: No. In fact, there are couples who together have over $100,000 in assets (not including their home) and qualify for Medicaid without any spend down. How can this be? What about the “division of assets” and “spend down” people are always talking about? Medicaid law is quite complex and everyone’s situation is different. The following example is just one of the many ways in which some of our clients are able to qualify their spouse for Medicaid without spending a penny: Carol’s […]

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