Posted on 11/13/2013 3:31:42 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
“So here’s the deal: since 1993 there has been a federal law requiring states to recover at least some of the costs of Medicaid-covered medical care for anyone 55 years old and up, from the estates of those covered. States enforce this law, with their own laws and policies added in, differently in every state. But the general principle is there. Up until now the usual consequence has been things like this: Medicaid puts a lien on the house of someone in a nursing facility who has run out of money, and after they die, the heirs find they have to buy the house back from the state if they want it.
We haven’t had lots of people younger than 65 on Medicaid, because in most states simply earning less than the Federal Poverty Level did not qualify one for Medicaid.
And we haven’t had many people with lots of assets on Medicaid, because in most places you have to have less than around $2400 to your name before Medicaid will cover you. You can keep your house and your car, but Medicaid reserves the right to put liens on them and take them when you die.
But now we have the Affordable Care Act, and its expectation that everyone in the lower tier of income will end up in the Medicaid system. To accomplish this, they have dropped the asset test. So now we will have lots of people ages 55-64, who have assets but not a lot of income right now, for whatever reason, on Medicaid.
The kicker of it is, if you make the right amount to qualify for a subsidized health insurance plan, your costs are going to be shared and subsidized by the government. But if you go on Medicaid, you owe the entire amount that Medicaid spends on you from the day you turn 55.”
Goodness. If you’ve paid someone to prepare a “living” (ie: intervivos revocable) trust for you thinking that it would protect your assets for Medicaid purposes, you’re in for a big disappointment.
That is most definitely not the case in my state. 55 to infinity.
But at least the surviving spouse gets to continue living in the house until death.
This doesn’t pertain to the exchange subsidies. Only Medicaid.
I have to wonder, does the author know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid?
“Medicare is Seizing Estates of anyone over 55.” is the title but the article goes on to discuss Medicaid. There is a difference.
Here in Maine this has happened.
Two people I know are going to lose the property left to them after death.
Another person, still living but in a nursing home, had his house seized and sold for half it’s value.
I do have a problem with Medicaid because it creates lazy ass people that never prepare for anything. Those on Medicaid tend to be on food stamps, public housing, and every other hand out. All of these hand outs create the problem.
My sis found a way to protect our mother’s house from this. Mom quit-claimed half her ownership to me. No matter what happens no one can put a lien on the house to recover Medicare payments.
“Madicaid is welfare. If someone has assets why should tax payers foot the bill.”
It’s going to be pretty interesting when Gen X and Y find out that they get nothing for putting up with their parents and waiting for them to die!
That should be past tense :).
With the removal of the asset tests, we now have people who are not at all impoverished applying for and being accepted for Expanded Medicaid.
“Medicare Is Seizing ...”
Medicare is NOT Medicaid.
Anyone involved in getting Medicaid for a parent or themselves needs to talk to a lawyer that specializes in elder affairs. The Gov’t generally goes back 5 years from the time a person qualifies looking for transfers of money or property. Setting up a life estate is one way of getting around having the Gov’t seize property. Once you get past the 5 year window, the Gov’t can’t seize anything. Best advice for those with aging parents, get property in a life estate ASAP.
As far as getting a lawyer involved, the nursing homes will provide legal services for free that will get a patient qualified for Medicaid, and they pretty much guarantee they can do it. However, they’re not necessarily concerned with what happens after the patient dies, which is when the Gov’t will come after property.
An independent lawyer who specializes in elder affairs will work to set things up so the Gov’t has minimal chance of seizing assets. In my experience you can expect to pay $3K at a minimum, but having someone with experience in this area is worth a lot.
How much did you pay for that advice?
This is about Medicaid, not Medicare, btw. (some persons may belong to both programs).
Ping
We paid about $600 for the quit claim. My sis paid nothing but her own time to research it and the info is solid. I know that it is for Medicare but it’s not at all clear what the article is about since it mentions both Medicare and Medicaid.
She refused to run.
Perhaps if you had focused your cult of personality energy on someone more willing, we wouldn't have had Romney.
Medicaid is different than Medicare. The author doesn’t seem to know this. The statement “We haven’t had lots of people younger than 65 on Medicaid” is nonsense. The vast majority of Medicaid recipients are children on AFDC and their parents. People over 65 are automatically on Medicare. Medicaid only picks up what the patients share of Medicare for poor people over 65.
I was told back in the ‘90s when my mother was in a nursing home, and recently when a sibling on Medicaid/disability was in a nursing home for a few months, to refuse to sign anything and when asked how much help you’re willing to give, say “nothing”. It’s not a good idea to open that door.
yes, but it is quite possible to reach into a living trust to collect a debt
especially if you are the government
just saying
In general I agree, but in my area the average nursing home stay is nearing $7,000.00 per month, and even if you count a retirement benefit and social security payments to be applied to the account, it doesn’t take long to spend much of what many people around here have managed to save. And the costs are variable depending on the level of care needed, so it is not unusual to have an annual fee of $85,000.00 to $100,000.00 in nursing home care.
The average length of stay in a nursing home, if I recall correctly, is just around 2. 5 years. Therefore, the average person will spend upwards of a quarter million dollars on nursing home care. That is way above nearly all of the house values in our county.
The costs are so high that it is inevitable that people become impoverished, and if both husband and wife are in the nursing home at the same time, Katie bar the door.
Most of the people are not slugs, but hard-working laborers and farmers who did not have the good fortune to have Daddy leave them a farm, so they really need the help.
On the other hand, there’s a couple of ‘em I know that...well, I won’t go there.
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