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PBRyter Asked February 2014
Will payments from my ward's Thrift Savings Plan to cover Assisted Living count against her for Medicaid qualification?
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I'm trustee and POA for a physically and mentally disabled woman 53 years old. She receives Social Security and disability that amount to about $1000 less than her AL fee, and her parents set up a Special Needs Trust. She has Medicare and Federal Blue Cross/Blue Shield. She also has a Thrift Savings Account that I would like to start drawing on but have been hearing about the 5 year "look back" period for Medicaid; will she be penalized for the TSP itself and/or any amounts she withdraws?
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pamstegma Feb 2014
Payments to Assisted Living would not be penalized. Medicaid gets upset only when money is not spent for care or cannot be accounted for.
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twopupsmom Feb 2014
true if you are only drawing out enough to pay the balance of her fee no problem but a TSP is to the government worker or military retiree a 401k so if you have to apply for Medicaid for your ward, all of that TSP account will be counted as income, unless you deplete the TSP account, actually you would have to deplete it for Medicaid to begin paying, as you can have no more than $2,000 in savings
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PBRyter Feb 2014
Thank you, pstegman and twopupsmom, for your answers. She has a special needs trust, Disability, and social security. The disability pays about 60% of her AL cost; the social security goes for pocket money, basically, and other needs such as the other 40% of the AL fee, clothing, incontinent supplies, utilities, come out of the special needs trust her parents set up. My hope is that she will never need Medicaid, but I want to be sure not to do anything to cause problems. If I understand correctly, the SNT does not count against Medicaid, and so it's best to use the TSP funds as early as possible.
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