elderly parents

[donothing]

Any tips/tricks/advise for dealing with nursing homes, medicaid, etc. Medicaid rep is going to talk to me tomorrow about getting set up for a parent that is about to go into a nursing home. She has a paid for house worth about 100k and stocks worth about 75k. The thing is, these assets are not "cash" that the nursing home needs. Does medicaid put a lien on the assets for anything they pay out? Or will they just say to sell the house and stocks before medicaid will kick in. Maybe someone has gone through a similar experience recently. Thanks

 

[savory]

I am not sure what a Medicaid rep is but I would suggest you speak to an elder care attorney. I expect the advice you will receive will be worth it. Elder care law can change. and my experience is from 2006. So, it might not be relevant. But, just in case, things have not changed that much .... One of the things I learned is that medicaid beds 'disappear' if there is not at least 6 months of full pay for a nursing home. They will simply tell you no medicaid beds exist. We had to pay a person who must have bribed an administrator and my dad finally got into a home. The home was terrible. It appears that your parent's estate, in the stock alone, would cover a six month period. Having said that, not all nursing homes have Medicaid beds. So, make sure the home has medicaid beds and obviously, you feel it will give the care you desire. If they do have medicaid beds, the rules in 2006 was that the home could not evict your parent if your parent ran out of money. And if they were a medicaid facility. My best immediate advice is to get educated by looking on line. And plan to take some time visiting nursing homes.

 

[Nords]

Any tips/tricks/advise for dealing with nursing homes, medicaid, etc. Medicaid rep is going to talk to me tomorrow about getting set up for a parent that is about to go into a nursing home. She has a paid for house worth about 100k and stocks worth about 75k. The thing is, these assets are not "cash" that the nursing home needs. Does medicaid put a lien on the assets for anything they pay out? Or will they just say to sell the house and stocks before medicaid will kick in. Maybe someone has gone through a similar experience recently. Thanks

Like Donothing says, talk to an eldercare attorney. Medicaid is a federal program but it's administered by the individual states, and they're all very different. You need expert help, and it's worth paying $275 an hour for a few hours of advice.

Your parent should start selling the stocks to afford the "private pay" bills while you and the lawyer and the Medicaid rep start the filing process. It can take 6-12 months. Generally, once you're in a nursing home on private pay, you're not discharged unless there's a protracted hospital stay or a behavioral issue.

I'm not sure what the state does about the home, except perhaps to either allow the parent to retain it (under Medicaid rules) or possibly to eventually file a lien on it. I believe that if your parent is receiving Social Security, then most of that will start going to the care facility and/or Medicaid.

But again every state has different rules.

My Dad is probably not going to outlive his assets, but the care facility's Medicaid rep calls me every few months just to see if I've made a horrible mistake in my financial calculations. They really need that 6-12 months heads up.