All of the articles written on this site are tailored toward Florida nursing home Medicaid eligibility, also known as ICP Medicaid, and estate planning. Some of the techniques discussed in these articles may not be applicable in all States. Though the nursing home Medicaid system is based on federal law, each State can elect specific rules. Additionally, nursing home Medicaid rules are based on many different governing bodies such as federal rules and regulations as well as state statutes, case law and policy. As these rules can change, even within the State of Florida, be sure to check with the specialists at Elder Planning Alliance for the most current information to ensure accuracy in your decision making process. I would also like to state that all examples given throughout the following articles may not apply to your specific situation. Therefore, the optimal way to ensure accuracy is to consult with nursing home Medicaid/ ICP Medicaid specialists and estate planning experts like the team at Elder Planning Alliance. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions and/or concerns you may have regarding your specific factual scenario. Please call us for your free initial consultation on our toll free number at 1.866.372.2702.

As we all know, a stay in a nursing home is a substantial cost, and rising. As a result, individuals and their loved ones need to plan strategically to protect assets they have worked a lifetime for. These unbearable nursing home costs could easily impoverish even the most well-to-do families. Should you or your loved one be stricken with Alzheimer’s disease, the average nursing home stay could be five years or more. In the state of Florida, with the average cost of a monthly nursing home stay around $7,500.00, this could amount to $450,000.00 or more! Thus, the importance of understanding nursing home Medicaid eligibility and estate planning! (more…)

Any of the articles and/or suggestions presented in said articles on this site are legal. I could never propose an estate planning and/or asset preservation technique that was not. The best example would be simply hiding money, assets or income. This will get you in hot water with the law should you decide not to include assets during the Medicaid qualification process. This is, without question, fraudulent activity against many governing bodies including the State and Federal government and could incur grave legal consequences. I always instruct my clients – “We cannot help you protect and/or preserve your assets if we do not know about them or if they are hidden from us.” Not to be redundant, but this is a serious no-no. However, rest assured that there is an abundant amount of other options that are completely legal and ethical for estate planning and nursing home Medicaid. These options, based on your specific factual scenario, will help you achieve your goals with the peace of mind that you are doing so legally and ethically. Now that we have discussed the legality of the methods set forth in these articles, let’s move on to the question of ethics. (more…)

The timing of applying for nursing home Medicaid / ICP Medicaid eligibility is an important aspect of strategic estate planning. Clearly, applying late could result in you and/or your loved one having to private pay rather than receiving payment from the government. As you are aware, this can be a significant and costly mistake. Additionally, applying too early could be costly if gifts have been made to loved ones within the “look-back period.” As of this writing, this period in the State of Florida is five years. This could trigger a disqualification for a certain time period. We will address gifting and disqualification in further detail in another article here. Briefly, in Florida, the math is as follows. If a gift is made within five years of nursing home Medicaid application, we look at what the gift was and the amount. For simplicity, if the gift was $100,000.00 to your daughter three years ago and you are currently applying for ICP Medicaid, you would be subject to a “disqualification” period. The applicable factor in Florida is currently $5,000.00. So, for a $100,000.00 gift we would divide that by $5,000.00 ($100,000/$5,000) which = 20. Therefore, the individual applying for nursing home Medicaid eligibility would be “disqualified” from receiving Medicaid benefits for a period of 20 months. Again, should you like a more detailed explanation of gifting, the look-back period, and the disqualification period, please click here. (more…)

I briefly touched on this subject in another article entitled “Eligibility and Application for Nursing Home Medicaid Qualification.” If you make a gift and/or transfer assets you may be ineligible to receive nursing home Medicaid benefits during what is known as the “penalty period.” Unfortunately, even if you are in a nursing home Medicaid qualified state and eligible to receive benefits, you will be disqualified from receiving said benefits as long as you are within the “penalty period.” (more…)

How to financially prepare for a nursing home

This is one of the most important articles I will write regarding nursing home Medicaid and the importance of pre-planning. I am going to write about two effective strategies to keep you from losing your life savings should you and/or your spouse need nursing home care. First I want to let you know that as of the writing of this article, the average cost of a nursing home in Florida is approximately $7,500 per month. This amounts to $90,000 per year. If you had a million dollars in the bank, you would have to make a 9% annual return just to cover that $90,000. In today’s economy, where CDs pay poor returns, you could easily eat through that million dollars in five to ten years. This would depend on whether one or both spouses were in the nursing home and what amount of treatment and medication were required. This doesn’t even take into consideration annual increases in the cost of care. With the declining value of the dollar, and other monetary factors involved, the cost of long term care could easily double again in the near future. (more…)

My Spouse Has To Go Into A Nursing Home

How to figure Minimum Monthly Maintenance Income Allowance for Purposes of Nursing Home Medicaid Qualification 

Mr. and Mrs. Smith lived in a house just down the street. They were by no means rich but they did have some money in the bank. With their combined income, they lived comfortably. Like most people, over the last ten years with the market going up and down, they lost part of their savings and the interest that was a cushion for their income has dwindled. They are still able to pay the mortgage and the rest of their bills. Mr. Smith makes the lion share of the income; his social security and pension bring home about $1,900 per month. Mrs. Smith was a house wife and a stay at home mom. She receives $450 in monthly social security income. A few weeks ago, Mr. Smith needed to go into the hospital from complications of pneumonia. Instead of getting better, his health worsened. Other complications from lying in bed for several weeks caused him to deteriorate further. Instead of coming home, he needed to be placed in nursing home care. When one spouse needs to enter a nursing home and the other spouse relies on their income, what do they do? In the Smith’s case, there was no way that Mrs. Smith could pay the bills. She relied on Mr. Smith’s pension and social security income. Additionally, she was just informed that the daily room rate was $245. That is $7,350 per month and almost $90,000 per year! Mrs. Smith started to panic. What would she do? That much money would wipe them out in just a year or maybe a little longer and she would be totally broke! She would lose her home and everything they had worked for all of their lives! (more…)

When is it time to place my loved one in a nursing home?

Over the years I have sat with thousands of people: Caregivers, spouses, family members and friends. One thing these caring individuals have in common is they struggle with the decision of when to place their loved one in a nursing home. The guilt that is associated with this decision can be overwhelming. The promise, “I will NEVER place you in a nursing home,” has been made many times. However, the reality is that often it is medically necessary and there is nothing that can be done to halt this process. I have seen caregivers suffer deep depression. I have seen the same symptoms over and over: lack of sleep, depression, not eating properly and the negative effects it can have on the family. (more…)

How Life Insurance May Affect Nursing Home Medicaid Eligibility

In this article I’m going to be talking about Life Insurance and the connection with nursing home Medicaid qualification. If I identify one issue that confuses most people in the nursing home Medicaid qualification process, it would be life insurance. Life insurance is an after-thought in most cases and people may not even address it if not specifically asked about it. Many people don’t realize that life insurance can disqualify an individual from receiving nursing home Medicaid benefits. (more…)

Many people have heard that to qualify for ICP nursing home Medicaid benefits (Institutional Care Program also known as Nursing Home Medicaid) you have to spend down all of your assets. Additionally, individuals have heard you must have little to no income or you will not qualify for nursing home Medicaid benefits. This is only partially true. If you don’t know the rules or don’t go to a knowledgeable company like Elder Planning Alliance, you may very well spend much more than you need to. The risk is real that you will wait longer than you should to apply for nursing home Medicaid benefits. (more…)

This and other asset related questions with Florida ICP Medicaid qualification

 Over the years I have been asked hundreds of questions concerning the qualification of nursing home Medicaid, but the most commonly asked questions pertain to assets. Naturally the biggest one is “Can I keep my house?” In this article I will address this and many other questions concerning assets.

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