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: 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: 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: Spenddown

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: Attribution

Here’s how the Iowa Medicaid manual describes an attribution: “When one spouse enters a medical institution or applies for a home- and community-based services waiver, […] resources are attributed to the ‘community spouse’ to protect sufficient resources for the community spouse’s maintenance.” What does that mean in normal english? [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]