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I brought my mom home from rehab under hospice. I thought I would be able to take care of her using private care during the day while I worked. Mom is completely bedridden. Unfortunately, I am finding I can not handle it. In the evening and during the night I am the one who has to change this 180 lbs lady. I love my mom but I can not do this anymore my whole body hurts.

I have tried to get her into a nearby nursing home under medicaid but her income was $233 over the cap. The busines manager told me if I would put enough monies into a Qaulified Income Trust(Miller Trust) then she would qualify for medicaid in GA. Will I set up this trust fund, provided the nursing home with 4 months of banking statements on existing accounts which are direct deposit accounts for social security and VA aid and attendance. When I took all this to the nursing home the business manager told me because the 3 checking accounts added up to over $2000 at the end of March my mom did not qualify for medicaid for April. According to this business manager all the accounts must equal less than $2000 at the end of each month. With the expenses I pay out each month for sitters we actually end up in the negative but because of the checking account cycle the statements do not reflect a balance less than $2000. Any suggestions on how to qualify mom for medicaid?

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Hollarfatgirl - your frustration is understandable. The biz office is trying to work with you, but their hands are tied as the state rules for Medicaid are set in stone. The total of the nonexempt assets have to be under 2K. My hubby had this issue with his mom and the caseworker actually gave him back MIL application and told him to go right now and spend 2K on hearing aids, walker, eyeglasses etc so that it could clear the bank, and then turn in the Medicaid application so that it (& he) would not have to go through the whole declined by Medicaid attached to the file. You want to have it so that the sum total of the accounts are like $ 1,600 so that there can be NO issue that mom is underneath the asset ceiling.

Now if you are cutting it close on being able to pay for the sitters by doing this, if possible see if you can get someone to volunteer for a short period till mom moves to the NH. Perhaps a neighbor or her/your church can do this. If you are in a bigger city, see if Jewish Family Services has an outreach program, something like this (short-term emergency sitting) is kinda the things they do and no you do not have to be Jewish either. Also I'd speak with the sitters or the company that the sitters work through to see if they can maybe pre bill for services so that more funds clear the bank account. Think creative finance.

The NH is trying to work with you. You know most NH will not even mention that a Miller Trust exists or could work as Miller is legal and they cannot give or suggest anything legal. So this sounds like a good NH at least from the biz office & admissions side. Good luck & try to keep a sense of humor in all this. (btw love the name I can see the video now…..Gwen Stefani @ 60! lol)
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Also I'd suggest you consolidate the checking account to just 1 and have her SS and any other retirement direct deposited to this account so that it is just less paperwork. Do make sure that you get on-line capabilities. Also if the account is POD to you - a pay on death account it bypasses probate and so cannot be captured by any Medicaid MERP (estate recovery). The NH may suggest that they become the payee for mom's SS & retirement, but you do NOT have to do this. You can pay the NH from mom's checking account and therefore you can direct & spend mom's personal needs allowance that they are allowed under Medicaid. The PNA runs between $ 35 - 90 a month (depends on state) - I like to let it build for a couple of months then go and do a more major shopping to replace / replenish what my mom needs at the NH - rather than let it sit @ the NH for them to pay for things or against her trust account.

Oh and you want to make sure you leave at least 1 full months of SS in the account as SS can do a clawback of funds if they die within the month paid.
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Doesn't hospice provide you with 24/7 aides?
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