Hi there! My mom is housebound so I do all her shopping. I have a dedicated credit card, in my name, that I only use for her purchases. When the statement comes in I write a check for the total then she reimburses me. Same with cash expenses. I have all the receipts and statements. I do not charge her for any care I provide; only reimbursements. If she needs Medicaid somewhere down the line, will this be an issue? Also, people are allowed to gift money. One year mom gave all us kids 20 grand. These were legal gifts. If Medicaid will gripe over all of these reimbursements can she gift me “X” amount of dollars? Thanks!
On the face of it, when a caseworker reviews the stack of financial documentation required to accompany mom’s Medicaid application, it looks like mom has regularly gifted to you & also gifted to other family members.
The 2Ok if within 5 yr look back from her eventual date of a Medicaid application, will likely trigger a transfer penalty inquiry for her overall application, as that’s just a obvious red flag. 20k at $170 average Medicaid daily reimbursement R&B rate is about 118 days of ineligibility. The stickies in this are that...
- penalty starts on Medicaid application date not when 20k gifted
- penalty is by # of days
- mom has already spent-down so is impoverished (2k in assets)
- mom is in a facility when she applies for LTC NH Medicaid, so needing skilled nursing. Her care plan by this point in time could be quite involved.
- NH may not accept her as a “Medicaid Pending” admission if they spot it. That means she’s private pay from day 1 till finally cleared Medicaid.
- once penalty placed, she will have a private pay bill from the NH. If she is to stay in the facility, someone (like you as her dpoa) will need to pay the NH & sign some sort of binding contract for admissions. Otherwise NH will send her & you a 30 Day Notice which is cc’d to APS and the state and a pro bono legal clinic in the area. She is toast on getting into any other facility.
The 2Ok transfer in & of itself is enough reason for mom to meet with an elder law atty to review the situation and have atty shepherd her eventual Medicaid application.
Ask the atty for how to deal with shopping for mom. If Medicaid disallows half of the checks written, that’s going to be added to the existing transfer penalty.
Also ask atty as to mom doing a personal care agreement with you, so she pays you for caregiving. Done all above board with taxes paid / filed. You could set this $ aside to pay towards the private pay period due to the penalty.
If mom had multiples of 20k to gift within 5 years of being indigent, then she's not truly indigent.
Regarding your method of receiving reimbursement, you should schedule a consultation with a certified eldercare attorney.
On the expenses question, that bit is easy: no, it won't be a problem. If you are buying items for your mother's use on your mother's behalf, and you have the receipts and credit card statements to show what they were, that's absolutely fine. And doing it on a dedicated credit card is a good idea - it keeps it neatly separate from everything else.
Is mom still managing her own money? Does she understand about RMDs and how to best take them?
Plus, avoid making mini-purchases with cash - it's a bit like labelling seedlings, you promise yourself you won't forget, you'll do it in a minute, you'll remember... but you *never* do. If you must, keep a small cash float in a separate change-purse.
It's a minor pain in the buttons, separating out her groceries at the checkout and keeping itty-bitty receipts; but it's worth the slight aggravation for peace of mind.