Devils, Details, and Deadlines: SSI vs. SSDI – What’s the Difference?

Some of the most impactful work we do involves setting up financial protections for disabled individuals. Part of that process includes exploring federal income benefits, but many people don’t realize that there are two available programs: SSI and SSDI. If you have a disabled child, knowing whether they are or should be on SSI or SSDI can significantly impact the … Read More

Watch Your Language: Trustee

A trustee has legal title to assets subject to certain conditions and requirements that are spelled out in the trust document. [Read More]

Watch Your Language: Grantor

The grantor is the person who creates a trust. No matter what type of trust you have, the grantor is always in charge because they set the trust’s terms. [Read More]

Watch Your Language: Snapshot Date

When you first submit a Medicaid application for nursing facility care (and Elderly Waiver, in Iowa), DHS takes a “snapshot” of your financial status as of the date you first moved into the nursing home. This is called the “snapshot date.” [Read More]

Watch Your Language: Resource

The third test in the Medicaid application process considers whether the applicant has too many resources. But what is a resource?[Read More]

Watch Your Language: Income

The Medicaid definition of “income” comes from federal law and reads as follows: Income is “[a]nything a person receives either in cash or in kind that can be used to meet the person’s basic needs of food, clothing, or shelter.” [Read More]

3 Myths About Medicaid for Nursing Home Care

Nursing homes are incentivized by the state to perpetuate the hoax because the daily nursing home rate paid by the state is lower than the private pay rate. Lawyers who don’t know anything about the Medicaid regulations are telling people they have no options for planning for Medicaid eligibility. How do you overcome misinformation or a lack of information? You get educated. Here are three myths, rooted in the Medicaid Planning Hoax, that are all wet. [Read More]