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I am in Michigan and I am not applying for Medicaid, but I can tell you that while applying for my father's VA benefits.... they were only allowed to have so many assets. Anything else had to be transferred to me or spent. VA benefits is extremely particular about what a person is allowed and there are a LOT of hoops to jump through, so be careful.

My advice to you is that you need to get an elder attorney. I don't know the facts of what's going on, nor should any of us presume to know better especially with what your mom is doing. There are two sides to every story. Get the advice and counsel of someone who knows the laws. Elders need to be protected, but at the same time watching out for them with tough decisions. It is a very difficult area.

Maybe someone from North Dakota can tell of their experience?
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I went through all of this when I had to put my father in a nursing home. Basically, all assets must be "spent down" before Medicaid will kick in.

Income from all sources including pension, social security, life insurance from previous spouse, etc., is expected to be used to pay for nursing home care. Even if you get to the point where you can qualify for Medicaid, any social security payments must go towards nursing home care.

I kept meticulous records of all nursing home expenses as well as his income from all sources - and I advise doing the same.

My father died before his money was all gone, so he never qualified for Medicaid.

The lookback period is five years for Medicaid, so if you are trying to gift away money to qualify for Medicaid, it's very difficult to do. In the past, families used to gift away all kinds of money to relatives to "hide" it from nursing homes. More recent legislation makes this almost impossible to accomplish.

Hope this helps.

"dragonflower"
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I think I should have swolled my pride and let the elder lawyer do more of the work since I had paid him a retainer when I was going through the medicaide maze but since my husband died before I was able to get him approved I had almost 4hrs of his time left and he is helping me get 1/2 of his pension which the union has been fighting with me about for over 4 months and medicare wants me to pay a penaty for not getting part D in 06 which I did not need because we were both covered fully for our meds so he is helping me with that also-I have learned sometimes you need to get help so you do not go crazy-I also was not able to get a small life insurance benefit which my financial advisor was able to arrange for me -I never thought that over four months since he died I would be having so much trouble-I think his union thought I would finally give up and let them win but they do not know how stuborn I can be I am sure the husband is looking down and thinking they should know better than to mess with her. I am gaining a lot of knowledge that I never wanted-at least I am trying to make things easier for my kids when my time on earth is over. But I am having a ball throwing out all the junk the husband saved over the years and now he can no longer go to the the trash bin and bring things back into the house as he use to do.
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What about the stuff of mom's that is stored in the garage and the silverware mom gave to my sister and the electric piano that my nephew is using that were moved from my mom's home in September? Is that all considered a gift? According to mom it is not now a gift, she states she wants it all back and wants out of the nursing home. Can't really sell it until we have the court date for guardianship, but will it have to be sold to pay for nursing home since it was within the last five years? Fortunately the money from the sale of my parents' homes was gifted 30 years ago and into an investment in my name. This was done when my dad was sick and mom was afraid he would end up in a nursing home. Turns out he died before having to go to a nursing home.
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Wants it all back? What kind of a mother is that??? Next, she'll be saying you abused her emotionally, using undue influence. Get yourself protected, if such a possibility exists. Scary!!!
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The key phrase in the question is "...makes too much." This indicates to me that you are concerned about income and not assets.

If the perceived problem is that Social Security + Vet benefits + any other income brings the Medicaid applicant to over $2022 and, therefore, over the qualifying income limit, then here is the solution:

The Irrevocable Qualified Income Trust (aka QIT or Miller Trust), permitted since the implementation of OBRA '93, allows the applicant to gift excess income over the cap to the trust and thereby qualify for Medicaid if all other eligibility requirements are met.

So yes, there is a very effective way to qualify for Medicaid if income is too high.
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Look into the Medically needy program...this is for individuals with assets that exceed standard Medicaid eligibility. In any event, you would be well served to seek out an elder lawyer to help you prepare an asset protection plan to begin a spend down towards eligibility and in payment of care out of pocket until such time.
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Please note than any trust you may consider should be reviewed if not drafted by an attorney, approved by Medicaid (often requiring trust provision for payback of benefits upon death to Medicaid not your heirs), and considered against a thorough review of all spend-down and gifting strategies (noting Promissory Notes have since been unfavorably considered by Medicaid for planning purposes.) I am not an attorney, and this is not intended to be taken as legal advise only what I would consider when embarking on the complex and situational task of estate and medicaid planning.
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Right on MsChrys1... not every option out there is for everyone. Thanks for the input.
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