Can You Qualify for Medicaid Next Month?
You may feel helpless. Every month you pay that nursing home bill of $5,000 or more with no end in sight, but there may be a better way. With the help of an experienced Woodlands nursing home Medicaid attorney you might be able to create Medicaid eligibility sooner than without one. A lot sooner. I might be able to get you Medicaid next month. Remember, the sooner you create eligibility the sooner you stop paying those nursing home bills.
The accelerated Medicaid eligibility is on top of protecting tens of thousands of dollars in assets for your family. If this is something you are interested in, then read on.
Don’t Believe Everything You Hear
When a spouse or parent is in a nursing home many people would have you believe your only choice is to blindly spend down assets until you reach the magic Medicaid number and establish eligibility. That route is the very last choice for my clients. We only pursue that after we exhaust all other asset protection options. Let’s take a look at an example where a married couple can protect almost all of their assets by acting quickly.
A Quick Review
For the purposes of our discussion we will look at the hypothetical married couple of Doug and Gina. Unfortunately Doug had a stroke and requires nursing home care. Their assets consist of a Texas homestead worth $200,000, a vehicle, and $200,000 spread out among checking, savings, and other accounts. Their income is $3,000 per month, the nursing home costs $5,000 per month, and other household expenses are $750 per month. How long before Doug is eligible for Medicaid and Gina stops losing money?
The Do Nothing Plan
If they go their own way and don’t take advantage of the proven and legal asset protection options it would be approximately 35 months or almost 3 years before Doug is eligible for Medicaid and all that money they spend on nursing home bills they are never getting back. The HHSC and the nursing home would leave Gina with $100,000 and Doug with $2,000. That is all they would have.
The Medicaid Next Month Plan
There is a Plan B though. I could have created Medicaid eligibility for Doug beginning June 1st. All they would have had to do was see me early in May. Yes, it really can happen that fast. Instead of only having $102,000 they would have very close to the $200,000 in assets.
Remember this is only an example. Every case is different because every family has different assets. For example, if your family has $500,000 or tax sensitive assets my timeline might be a little different. However, the fact remains that you might be eligible for nursing home Medicaid next month without even knowing it. All you need is the right plan to show you how to get there.