Medicaid Mistakes: Bad Advice from Unqualified People

I regularly receive requests to help families that have already tried their own asset protection plan for Medicaid. Sometimes they come to me after a family member has done something with an account the previous week or it could involve an action from years ago and now the money is all gone. Can you see where this is going?  If they contact me to fix something, obviously the do it yourself plan went wrong and they are now in a lurch between the nursing home and the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) with past due nursing home bills usually past the $10,000 mark or more.

How Does This Happen?

There is a lot of information on Texas Medicaid out there that is flat out wrong, mildly inaccurate, or completely inappropriate when applied to a specific family’s set of circumstances. Often times you may hear stories from friends or family about what worked for them and it is not uncommon for medical staff personnel in hospitals and rehab centers to make bold statements on your family member’s Medicaid eligibility.

Think twice before putting your loved one’s financial resources and Medicaid eligibility in their hands. Ask yourself, “Do they work for me? Do they know the details of my situation? Do they know the nuances of Texas and Federal Medicaid laws? Will they stand beside me in front of the HHSC?”

In my experience, most pieces of anecdotal advice from unqualified people are horribly inaccurate. Medicaid rules that may seem black and white at first glance often become a lot more complicated when you consider the very important details that make the difference between receiving benefits and being charged with a penalty. (Ordinarily this is where I jump into a story of how many families think qualifying for certain Medicaid exemptions is much easier than it actually is, but we will cover those situations in a separate article)

I hope you are here to educate yourself before going down this same dangerous road.  This is my critical Medicaid mistake #1: relying on bad advice from unqualified people.

What Is The Worst That Can Happen?

Bad advice, or no advice, usually creates more problems than solutions. For example, bad advice has led families to transfer assets out of a parent’s name and then spend all of the funds within the look back period of the parent’s application for Title 19 Medicaid benefits.  From a legal perspective, there is no rhyme or reason to these situations and they often lead to disaster.  So in a case like this a family has transferred and spent everything and gotten themselves into trouble with the HHSC. What happens now?

Now, that the Medicaid application was denied they recognize they need a Montgomery County Elder Law Attorney to fix the Medicaid eligibility issue.  They have already spent everything, how are they going to afford a Montgomery County Medicaid Attorney to help them out of this hole?  Speaking for myself, it usually costs more to fix an ill-advised asset protection plan than to create a well designed plan.

Don’t Let This Happen to You

If you are interested in asset protection from nursing home costs without jeopardizing Texas Medicaid eligibility speak with a Houston Medicaid Attorney and do it right the first time. Hope is not a strategy when it comes to proving your case for Medicaid nursing home benefits that cost an average of $5,000 per month.

If you are considering a do it yourself asset protection plan, be prepared to go it alone from start to finish.  There are some mistakes that cannot be undone by even the best attorney.

TexasTitle19.com is your connection to an experienced Houston Medicaid Attorney who can help you find the right nursing home, get the best care, and pay for it all without going broke. We are currently focused on Harris and Montgomery Counties, including the areas of Houston, Conroe, The Woodlands, Spring, Tomball, Humble, and Katy. We also provide Elder Law and Medicaid consulting services throughout all of Texas.

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