Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that helps cover medical costs for individuals. This coverage may extend to the extensive expenses associated with staying in a nursing home facility, such as your room and board, physician visits, nursing assistance, personal care assistance, social activities, and much more. However, you must understand that you are not automatically qualified to be a recipient of this financial assistance. With that being said, please continue reading to learn whether you can earn Medicaid eligibility to cover your nursing home costs and how an experienced Broward County trust lawyer at The Probate Lawyers can work to ensure you do not accidentally jeopardize this opportunity through any estate planning actions.
What are the components for Medicaid eligibility in Florida?
Simply put, you must meet certain financial and non-financial criteria to earn eligibility for Florida’s Medicaid program. More specifically, these standards read as follows:
- You must be a United States citizen or qualified alien, along with being a Florida resident.
- You must be 65 years old or older, or otherwise have a qualified disability or blindness.
- You must have a medical condition serious enough to require a nursing home facility level of care.
- You must not own countable assets worth more than $2,000 or have an income of more than $2,901 per month.
What might affect my Medicaid coverage for nursing home costs?
It is commonly the case that individuals meet the non-financial criteria for Medicaid coverage but not the financial limits. Having more than the cap for monthly income and countable assets does not necessarily mean that you can afford the steep cost of your nursing home stay. This is not to mention that you may be unwilling to deplete your assets to the point that there is little to nothing left to place in your estate plan for your designated beneficiaries.
All of this to say, you must come up with an estate planning strategy to gain eligibility for Medicaid coverage. A popular method is to set up a Medicaid asset protection trust. This is an irrevocable trust type, so you will transfer your ownership rights over certain assets to subsequently lessen your countable assets. Or, you may transfer the title of your home, gift some of your assets, or sell some of your assets to your desired beneficiaries to similarly lower your countable assets. However, how you take these actions may heavily affect your ability to gain Medicaid coverage.
For one, your trust cannot be established within five years of your Medicaid application. This is because, with the look-back rule, an evaluator may see whether you have transferred any assets in the past five years. If they identify such, they may defer your eligibility for months or even years. Here, they may calculate how long this deferment should be by comparing the value of your transferred assets to the projected cost of your nursing home stay. They may do the same for the gifts you gave within this timeframe, along with the assets you sold for less than their fair market values.
We understand just how overwhelming all of this can be for you. So, if you have any remaining questions, please consult with a skilled Broward County estate lawyer. The team at The Probate Lawyers is willing and able to provide you with legal assistance in any capacity.
