She just wants me to sign them. I asked her if I need to consult a lawyer first. She sounded insulted and said no. She says she does hundreds of these a year. I said it makes me nervous, because DH gets disability which puts him over the limit every month, and I have to go withdraw the money. Don't I have to report this? She said no. Wish it were this simple.
Doing a Medicaid application when there is a community spouse involved is not a do it yourself project, as my friend Igloo here always says.
You need to protect YOUR ability to live and have adequate funds to pay your mortgage/re t, buy food and gas and have a life.
if the counselor cannot give you a pretty precise $ amount for your as a community spouse resource allowance; or seems clueless at to what a “resource allowance” is; or starts meandering into something else.... FULL STOP. You need to get with an elder law atty ASAP before you sign off on anything.
You as a CS do NOT have to yourself become impoverished.
Only hubs as the in the NH spouse applying to be eligible for LTC Medicaid needs to be impoverished.
Not you!
If you need some of his monthly income to live in the community, then you can file for or request a “resource allowance”. It’s called CSRA or MMNA (monthly maintenance needs assessment or allowance). Think of it as kinda like old school style alimony. And CSRA / MMNA is $ in addition to the $128k in the bank type of assets that most states allow as a separate asset for you to keep and set aside as the CS.
If nobody has mentioned a fixed $ amount that you as a CS can have as their own asset and be totally OK for his medicaid, again FULL STOP!
if they tell you that all his monthly income must be paid to them, that’s a steaming load. If you need some of his monthly income, like his SS$, cause you have a mortgage, car note, high drug bills, big utility costs, whatever and it’s his income that right now that allows you to live in your home.... well you have a right to request that his income goes to your first and foremost then what’s left goes as his required by Medicaid copay to the NH.
There was someone on this forum who’s mom got all the hubs SS $ except for $ 45.00. His copay to the NH was just $45. The mom had huge medications costs and super high utilities as well so her atty basically filed to show she was at need for big CSRA and she got it.
I don’t know what your age is but if you outlive hubs by several years you need all the $ you can for your own future. If it ends up meaning that NH only gets a pittance of his monthly income, it is what it is.