Medi-Cal Crisis Planning
Apply & Qualify for Medi-Cal
Change is life’s only constant. Sometimes these changes strike without warning. If you or a loved one has experienced a sudden illness or serious accident, you understand how abruptly everything can change. Are you or a loved one suddenly in need of nursing home care? Finding and affording quality care on short notice can be stressful and draining. At Moynihan Lyons PC, our Riverside lawyers help you determine the best options for care and how to qualify for Medicaid to help finance them.
Long-Term Care: Counting the Cost
Long-term care is expensive, and these costs only continue to increase as baby boomers age. Although the range varies depending on where you live, according to the Genworth Cost of Care Study for 2018, the national median annual cost of a private nursing home room is $100,375 with a 4% annual increase projected. With improved medical care, the average life span of adults also is increasing; this translates into more years of care at increasingly higher rates. Without some sort of financial assistance, these costs could be financially devastating. In fact, your entire life savings could be quickly depleted within a few years of needing long-term care. This is where Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) can help.
Medi-Cal is a joint federal and state program to assist those with low income and limited resources. While Medicare provides very limited long-term care coverage, Medi-Cal is much more extensive. However, because of its restrictions, qualifying for Medi-Cal can be extremely difficult. But paying for a nursing home without it could be all but impossible.
The Medi-Cal Maze
Although Medcaid requirements vary from state to state, they all share one common element: complexity. Each state specifies a maximum allowed income for individuals and couples in order to qualify for Medicaid. Also, the applicant’s total assets cannot exceed a specified amount called the Individual Resource Allowance, which is consistently very low, often as low as $2,000*. Although certain possessions, like your home and automobile, are “exempted” for purposes of determining Medi-Cal eligibility, this figure is still alarming. If the applicant is married, the process becomes more complicated. For the recipient to qualify for Medicaid in any state, the applicant’s spouse can keep the couple’s assets up to a Maximum Community Spouse Resource Allowance of $126,420. So, if a couple has more than the maximum of$126,420** in assets, they must “spend down” to all but $2,000 (or whatever the state Individual Resource Allowance is) for the applicant receiving long-term care.
What can you do if the value of your “non-exempt” assets exceeds the $126,420* Maximum Community Spouse Resource Allowance? If you give your extra assets away in one large gift, which seems like an obvious choice, you may encounter greater problems. Violating this “Transfer Penalty Rule” could disqualify you from receiving Medi-Cal for months or years, depending on how much you gave away.
If your need for nursing home care is immediate, time is not something you can afford to lose. Why? If you wait too long and your non-exempt assets are more than the $126,420 limit, then transferring assets become more complicated. Generally, in California, you will have to consider making a series of gifts (transfers) to others, usually your children, to move the assets out of your name while managing the lenght of potential periods of Medi-Cal ineligibility based the amount you have transferred. These transfers are then funded into an Irrevocable Trust .
This is only a brief and oversimplified review of a few Medicaid rules, of which there are many more. Navigating them on your own could be a nightmare at best and subject you to penalties at worst. Fortunately, though, our experienced professionals can guide you through the Medicaid maze. We can advise you throughout the application process, ensuring that you retain the maximum income and total assets allowed by law.
Conclusion
Seek appropriate counsel before you apply for and seek to qualify for Medi-Cal for long term care. We can give you – and your family – peace of mind during a difficult and uncertain time. When dealing with Medi-Cal, legal advice is something you cannot afford to go without.
* The Individual Resource Amount varies from state to state.
** Since these amounts (e.g., the “Community Spouse Resource Allowance,” etc.) are adjusted annually, these numbers may vary slightly depending on when the most recent figures are released.-