Protecting Your Assets When Faced With Nursing Home Care
As originally seen in our Summer 2019 newsletter
A family’s life savings can easily be spent in a matter of months when a family member needs long-term nursing home care. The loss of life savings and assets, including the family home, can be devastating,
There are several different Missouri Medicaid (MO HealthNet) long-term care programs for which Missouri seniors may be eligible. One program is for Institutional/Nursing Home Medicaid (Vendor MO HealthNet), which is an entitlement (meaning anyone who is eligible will receive assistance) and is provided only in nursing homes.
In order to qualify for this program, there are specific asset limitations. Therefore, your assets must be structured so they are not counted against you. There is a five-year look-back period, which means that assets must be gifted away or placed in a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust more than five years prior to applying for assistance to pay for skilled nursing care.
However, most people don’t realize that there is an exception when you are married. Although the assets of both the husband and the wife are counted for purposes of qualifying. For married couples where one spouse is remaining in the home, the home is protected along with a certain amount of the assets. Then, the remaining assets can often be strategically spent down using qualified exceptions to the Medicaid rules. Sometimes this is accomplished by turning assets into an income stream which can protect it for the spouse.
It is vital to plan ahead even when long-term care needs are still several years away from being necessary.
By Sativa Boatman-Sloan, Attorney at Law