Watch Your Language: Equity Value

Domicile – the place a person calls “home” – can have a significant impact on Medicaid eligibility and what benefits are available to help with long-term care.

Watch Your Language: Trust

One of the most common questions I hear during our Mutual Interviews is, “Do I need a trust?” And the typical lawyer answer is, “It depends.” In order to answer that question, we need to start by defining what a trust actually is. [Read More]

Watch Your Language: Asset

In the Medicaid world, the term “asset” is used when discussing Medicaid’s transfer penalty rules. As a result, “asset” includes both income and resources. [Read More]

Watch Your Language: D.R.A.

In 2005, Congress passed legislation which, among many, many other things, changed the way a Medicaid applicant’s resources and past transfers are considered. This bill is called the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and was signed by the President on February 8, 2006.[Read More]

Watch Your Language: MMMNA

When a Medicaid applicant is married, the rules allow their spouse to retain a minimum amount of assets and income. We’ve already talked about the community spouse resource allowance (CSRA); the minimum income level is called the minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance (MMMNA). [Read More]

Watch Your Language: Unavailable Resource

The primary classification of assets under the Medicaid rules is whether an asset is countable or non-countable. But there’s a special class of resources that is both countable and non-countable – an exception to the general rule: the unavailable resource. [Read More]

Watch Your Language: CSRA

Recently we’ve referred to the community spouse a super hero. For this super hero, the special abilities aren’t mutations or the result of a yellow sun – she can’t fly and he’s not super-strong. Instead, their powers are tied directly to their status as the healthy spouse – the spouse who doesn’t need nursing home care. [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]