Long Term Health Care

[ZMAN]

I was looking into it at length and stopped short after reading the discussions on the various threads.

A friend at age 60 did a 3 year program under the NY Partnership. What he was really after was the opportunity to have his assets reorganized during the 3 years of care. In the NY Partnership, your assets are safe from seizure after the 3 years, but your income and family income can be used to offset medicaid benefits. So the idea is to have the well spouse do careful transfers and planning during the 3 years to minimze income once the benefits run out. Presumably then there is less income to seize and the assets are safe per the terms of the Partnership. At least that is the idea.

Is anyone aware of this strategy using a "partnership" plan. I believe a number of the states have them.

 

[youbet]

your assets are safe from seizure after the 3 years, but your income and family income can be used to offset medicaid benefits. So the idea is to have the well spouse do careful transfers and planning during the 3 years to minimze income once the benefits run out. Presumably then there is less income to seize and the assets are safe per the terms of the Partnership.

I don't have the answer to your question regarding how this Partnership plan works. But I have another question you should carefully consider in your planning. Do you want you or DW to be in a facility that accepts medicaid? I'm sure it varies from state to state, but in Illinois it is becoming more and more problamatic to place and keep loved ones in quality situations if medicaid is the primary payer.

I know someone will reply with an anecdotal example of a relative being placed in a high tier situation all paid for by medicaid. I'm sure it's possible. But our preliminary research in preparation for DW's very broke mother's future needs, we're finding that in Illinois it's very difficult to be picky about location and quality if your relative is going to be on medicaid.