I wanted to tell you about one of the very FIRST families I helped after leaving the Medicaid Office.
Mom, at age 92, had been widowed for some time and was living alone in her own home. The time came when she decided to move into an Assisted Living facility, and found she enjoyed the social interaction with other seniors. The family had to decide what to do with her home.
When the family came to me they really had three goals that they wanted to accomplish:
Goal: The facility wanted ONE YEAR of private-pay / private room rate, before they would accept Medicaid. (Note - In Idaho, it is common for an Assisted Living to NOT want Medicaid residents, because the Medicaid payment is considerably less than "private-pay" residents.)
Goal: Any remaining assets that could be preserved from the sale of home, should be divided between the two daughters.
Goal: Everything should be done according to Medicaid rules, so that Medicaid could be eventually approved.
The sale of the home netted about $135K. Of that, $70K was split between the two sisters - $35K each.
WIN #1 - The Assisted Living facility received Private Pay / Private Room payments for one year.
WIN #2 - The two sisters received $35K EACH - not the world, but a nice little "inheritance" BEFORE mom passed away.
WIN #3 - Medicaid did NOT have to pay for mom's care for that year AND Medicaid received an $8k check for PRIOR payments made on mom's behalf.
WIN #4 - The Medicaid workers has reviewed the whole plan, and at the end of the year, approved Long-Term Care Medicaid. They agreed that based on the specific order of events, and according to the rules, the "penalty for giving away $70K" was served during the year the Assisted Living received payment and no other penalty was needed.
Just a little disclaimer here - Don't Do This On Your Own unless you know what you are doing. If this isn't done correctly, you can cause yourself a lot of problems. That said, it is a perfect illustration that there ARE ways to preserve some of the family assets and still qualify for Medicaid.
I just had to share!
Hope you have a great day!
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