Will Nursing Home Medicaid Take My House (Or Bank Account)?
This is a very common question many people have when a parent or spouse enters a nursing home in Houston, Conroe, or anywhere in Texas. After all, your house, bank account, and other assets represent a lifetime of saving and sacrificing which nobody does with the expectation of losing everything to nursing home bills of over $6,000 a month. The good news is Texas will not take your homestead or other asset, but that does not mean those assets are protected.
Texas does not take anything from anybody who applies for Medicaid. They leave the choice of what happens with your home and other assets entirely up to you. The way it works is that the burden is on you to meet specific Medicaid nursing home eligibility requirements. If you insist on keeping assets in a way that prevents you from meeting those eligibility requirements then the HHSC simply denies Medicaid nursing home benefits.
This Won’t Protect Your Bank Account
Keeping the account that is over the Medicaid asset limit won’t work.
For example, if a nursing home resident has a bank account with $10,000 in it and Medicaid has a $2,000 asset limit what do you think happens? Nobody takes the bank account. Not the nursing home. Not the government. Nobody. What does happen though is this. When that nursing home resident does apply for benefits, the HHSC will deny their application because they own assets above the program limit.
Giving away the money won’t work.
So you won’t be able to keep the bank account in its current form, how about giving it away?
If Medicaid is not going to pay the bill, then you will need to make other arrangements to pay the nursing home in order to avoid eviction. They won’t take assets from you and at the end of the day they care very little about what you specifically do with your assets as long as when you come to them you meet all of the nursing home Medicaid eligibility requirements. One of those requirements is not having a Medicaid penalty so giving assets away blindly is not a plan that will work.
This Will Protect Your Bank Account
What does work is putting together a plan using proven strategies that many Texans have used to protect their assets from long term care costs. For example, here is one family that avoided losing over $100,000 in a nursing home spend-down. Doing nothing does not protect your assets and it does not get you the Medicaid benefits you need.
If you want to take control of the situation, then you can be like my clients that take the necessary steps to reposition their assets in order to meet the nursing home Medicaid requirements sooner than spending everything down to the minimum levels. Texas does not take anything from them, rather they have reviewed the reality of the situation and made a decision that the savings achieved by creating Medicaid eligibility sooner exceeds the cost.
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hello, my dad has been in nursing home for over 3yrs now, (still living in nursing home) he did not make a will for his house which is paid for (worth about 130,000) he is receiving Medicaid, will they try to take his house after he dies? fyi: I only have power of attorney. any input will appreciate it, thanks
The house would likely be subject to Medicaid Estate Recovery claims after he passes away. With 3 years of benefits and counting the claim will probably be for a noteworthy amount. He may be able to avoid Medicaid Estate Recovery by taking further steps. You can call (832) 592-7913 for more information.
My mother is 06 received only 742. per month. This in Texas she has to be admitted for short term occupancy. She has no assets. Will Medicaid take her check?
There is a co-payment for every nursing home Medicaid recipient based on their income. If she is not married, she will likely have a co-payment close to the amount of her monthly income reduced by certain allowable deductions.
I have Medicare and Humana insurance I have been in nursing home for 1 month.
Will Medicare pay for my first
month in nursing home
Medicaid coverage is based on the Medical Effective Date. The person representing you through the application and eligibility process should have the answer to that, I do not know enough about your case.
My mother passed away in 2020 and my stepdad is being put into a nursing home and his kids are transferring him to Medicaid this week. His oldest daughter has POA. My halfbrother and I own half of the estate from her passing. How can I protect our half of the estate from being taken by nursing home because they’re selling it due to mortgage left. There is no will from my mother and I have an affidavit of heirship, but not filed yet.
Only the property your stepfather owns or has an interest in is part of his Medicaid eligibility case. Your interest in the property should not be infringed as part of his Medicaid eligibility, but I do not have all the details on your specific situation at this time.
My father is 84 with Alzheimer’s and Dementia. My mother is taking care of him at home, but he’s getting too ill for her to manage. They live in Texas and own their home and have two rental properties in a Revocable Trust. Is it possible for him to be eligible for Medicaid we can get him the care he needs?
Generally, the two rental properties are likely to push them over the asset limit for Medicaid eligibility. However, a definitive answer is not possible without reviewing the spousal assessment numbers and the financial details of all the assets.
My mother is 91 and lives with my wife and myself (son) in Arkansas. If we deed her house in Texas to my niece’s husband are taking care of their children. If mom needs to go into a nursing home, will they come take her home she deeded to them.
With her being a resident of Arkansas she would be applying for Medicaid in Arkansas and subject to their rules. I would check with an Arkansas attorney for the answer to your question.