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n the following example, an elderly gentleman was admitted
to a Nursing Home. Financial pressures quickly began to mount
due to the high cost of his care. His spouse was worried that
their life savings would be used up, she might not have enough
money to live on and there wouldn't be anything left to pass
on to the children.
The mother and her children were very interested in our proven
asset preservation strategies, but had many questions and
concerns. We reassured them that every strategy we implemented
was completely within Florida Medicaid guidelines, we began
by learning about the father, mother and children to properly
assess their situation. We obtained the following information
about the finances of both mother and father:
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"Medicaid
Elegibility offered expert advice and assistance when
it was time to put Mom & Dad in a nursing home.
After we made the recommended changes to their portfolioand
applied for Medicaid. My family and I were extremely
relieved when Mom & Dad were approved, and we were
able to preserve the bulk of their assests. Thanks,
Medicaid Elegibility, you really saved the day."
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| Our Recommendation: |
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Since the countable assets exceeded the spousal asset limit
by $45,350 Medicaid Eligibility implemented the following
strategies to help them reserve the excess assets: Burial
Accounts were set up for both the mother and father, each
at $2500, for a total of $5,000. Medicaid did not count these
burial accounts as assets. However, the mother and father
still had excess assets of $147,000, and needed to restructure
assets to get below themaximum level of $101,640. To do this,
CDs were cashed in, and a $40,000 Medicaid-friendly Annuity
was purchased. We named the mother owner of the annuity to
ensure that interest income from the annuity would go to her,
not the nursing home. The mother is listed as the annuitant
and owner, and their children are beneficiaries. Since Doris
owns the annuity, there is no "gifting" of assets. Thus Medicaid's
"five-year look back" period does not apply to assets placed
into the annuity. The annuity spouse is in some cases now
allowed to receive a portion of John's income as "spousal
diversion" to enable her to meet her monthly expenses.
Results:
With a little help from (their friends at) Medicaid Eligibility,
the father, mother and their children were able to realize
the following (value-added) benefits:
- The father was immediately approved immediately for Medicaid.
- The mother and father preserved virtually the entire amount
of their excess assets or ($40,000.)
- The mother receives interest payments from the annuity
each month.
- A portion of John's income was diverted to Doris to help
her meet expenses.
- The children were pleased to have a little nest egg coming
their way.
The mother, father and children stopped worrying about their
finances.
This information is in accordance with regulations
in effect prior to federal legislation that has been passed,
but the state of florida has not yet adopted at this time,
but is subject to change without notice.
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| SINGLE PERSON MODEL |
In the following example, the children of a Medicaid applicant
placed their mother in a Nursing Home, and paid privately
for her care for 3 months. They were searching for a way
to preserve their mother's assets without sacrificing the
level of care she was receiving. That's when they turned
to Medicaid Eligibility and spoke to one of our friendly
and highly knowledgeable Medicaid eligibility specialists.
The
children were very interested in our proven asset preservation
strategies, but had many questions and concerns.
We
reassured them that every strategy we implemented was completely
within Florida Medicaid guidelines, then began by learning
about the children and their mother to properly assess their
situation. We obtained the following information about the
Mother's finances:
Our
Recommendation:
Since the
mother’s funeral arrangements had been prepaid, all
she had to do was sign an irrevocable designation form in
order for the funeral contract to be excluded as an asset.
In addition, asset restructuring was needed to get the mother’s
excess assets of $58,800 below the $2,000 allowable asset
level for a single person. A Medicaid-friendly annuity was
then purchased in the mother’s name, with the mother
listed as the annuitant and owner, and children as beneficiaries.
Since the mother is the owner, there is no “gifting
of assets”; thus Medicaid’s “five (5)
-years look-back” period does not apply to assets
placed into the annuity. If the mother was to die in the
next few years, her children will receive a final balloon
payment of $58,200 at the end of the annuity contract. They
also have an option of receiving accelerated payments if
they require access to funds before receiving the balloon
payment.
This
information is in accordance with regulations in effect
prior to federal legislation that has been passed, but the
state of florida has not yet adopted at this time, but is
subject to change without notice.
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