You may have heard it before: Someone’s elderly parent or grandparent breaks their hip or had a stroke or any one of the thousands of things that can happen to us when we start drinking Ensure for lunch, and now the family needs to apply for Medicaid for that person’s long term care needs. But the family members are having all types of trouble finding the necessary documents that Medicaid requires, such as marriage certificates, identification, proof of Social Security, tax returns, copies of all financial statements, the list is pretty lengthy.
So, what can your parents do now to help you apply for Medicaid for them at some point in the future?
1. Draft a Power of Attorney: Having a suitable person appointed to make financial decisions allows that agent to apply for Medicaid if the applicant is unable to do so themselves. Have your parents draft Powers of Attorney that name a responsible adult to handle their finances.
2. Collect Documentation: Make sure your parents have a recent income tax return and copies of statements where all accounts are held. This will allow a child to trace his or her parent’s steps and figure out where all the family assets are located.
3. Decrease Number of Accounts: Qualifying for Medicaid means sharing statements for every account the applicant has. While some people feel having multiple accounts helps them to save more money, it is likely that the legal fees and family frustration in collecting these many accounts will more-than invalidate such savings benefits.
4. Keep Identification Handy: Make sure you know where mom and dad have their birth certificates and marriage certificates, Medicare card, driver’s license, etc.
5. Create Medicaid Trusts & Update Deeds: Placing property (such as a home or excess investments) in Medicaid Trusts allows the Medicaid “Look Back” period to commence moving forward. While Home Care is only a 1 month wait, nursing home care required a 60 month look back, so the sooner they take action the sooner these assets are in the clear.
6. Don’t “Chase” CD Rates for Better Interest: This may come as a surprise entry. Remember that before your parents can qualify for Medicaid, they need to supply their financial statements to Department of Social Services. But if your parents have been getting short term CDs at banks in order to take advantage of teaser rates you now have a nightmare of document collection ahead of you. Choose a financial institution and stick with it: Any additional interest made will be eaten away by attorney fees and family exhaustion.
Remember that applying for Medicaid is not required: The quality of caregiving received tends to be inferior to paying out of pocket. But if no planning has been done beforehand then your parents are leaving themselves with no choice or are substantially burdening you with future work to preserve family assets. Have a Medicaid informational session with an Elder Law attorney to learn how Medicaid works and what steps that can be taken that will give your family options.
Remember that applying for Medicaid is not required: The quality of caregiving received tends to be inferior to paying out of pocket. But if no planning has been done beforehand then your parents are leaving themselves with no choice or are substantially burdening you with future work to preserve family assets. Have a Medicaid informational session with an Elder Law attorney to learn how Medicaid works and what steps that can be taken that will give your family options.
