Exempt Assets and Countable Assets: What Must Be Spent?

To qualify for Medicaid, applicants must pass some fairly strict tests on the amount of assets they can keep. To understand how Medicaid works, we first need to review what are known as exempt and non-exempt (or countable) assets. Exempt assets are those which Medicaid will not take into account (at least for the time being). In general, the following are the primary exempt assets: Home, no matter what its value. The home must be the principal place of residence. Estate Recovery can place a […]

Is an IRA Counted by Medicaid

Louise Williams has had a rough year. Her Husband, Tom, suffered a stroke in the early fall and since then she has been trying to keep her head above water, care for Tom and put in a full day’s work as a registered nurse and run the household. Not surprisingly, she is exhausted. To make matters worse, she has just learned from the doctor that her husband will need nursing home care. In talking with some co-workers, Louise was told that her 401(k) plan at […]

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 […]

Does An Inheritance Count for Medicaid?

Timing is everything. How often have you heard someone express that sentiment? And while it’s often true of life in general, it’s certainly true in Long Term Care planning. So does an inheritance count as an asset for Medicaid purposes? For a single person, the answer is clearly, “Yes.” If a single individual is spending down his or her assets, and before the spend-down is completed, that individual receives an inheritance, then those assets are added into whatever that person has and must be spent […]

Estate Recovery

Henry and Marge Smith have lived on their family farm in Kansas for over forty years. Recently, Henry suffered a stroke and was told by his doctor he needed nursing home care. “Finding a nursing home is not the problem,” Marge says when she comes to your office. “There is a nursing home in town where my parents lived for several years. Our family was very happy with the care they received. My concern is finding the money to pay for his care.” She starts […]