A lot of folks in their position are trying to figure out the Medicaid system. There’s a few ways we pay for long term care.
Private pay is an option. Some folks have some long-term care insurance. Some folks have enough financial assets to satisfy that. And then there’s the Medicaid system. But Medicaid is a needs based program. So to qualify for Medicaid, you have to have limited resources. The state doesn’t want to pay the bill any more than we do. So a lot of clients will come in and we do what’s called a resource assessment.
Review all the assets, that’s everything from the house, the car, the stocks, the bonds, the annuities, the IRAs and even the income. And there’s a lot of folks who either second marriages or have inherited assets or for whatever reason, consider something theirs, something their spouses. The biggest misconception or myth is that Medicaid will only review the assets of the person in the facility.
Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Medicaid reviews the entire the total assets combined total assets of the couple. So I have to throw everything in a big pot, add it up and consider that a part of the assessment. So that’s a worry or concern. Please seek advice with a competent elder law attorney. They can walk you through that assessment and give you Medicaid’s perspective.