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Jewish World Review
August 31, 2005
/ 26 Av, 5765
Little protection from Medicaid estate recovery
By
Jan L. Warner & Jan Collins
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Q: My father died after 3-1/2 years in a nursing home. He ran out of
money after six months, and was on Medicaid for the past three
years, during which the home took all of his Social Security and
left him $30 per month for his "extras." Not two weeks before he
died, his older sister died without a will meaning that Dad
inherited nearly $80,000 from her estate. We opened Dad's estate and
received claims by the state Medicaid agency for everything Medicaid
had provided to Dad for those three years nearly $70,000. It
doesn't seem fair that a windfall to my father should be taken from
his family, since Dad had to sell everything to take care of my
mother before she died. Is there anything we can do to preserve this
money?
A: Probably not. The claim against your father's estate is being
made under what is called "Medicaid estate recovery." At the death
of a Medicaid recipient like your father, the state Medicaid agency
is required by federal law to recover from his estate the Medicaid
dollars that were expended for him during his lifetime for nursing
home, hospital and other medical expenses.
While the most usual target of Medicaid recovery is the family home,
other assets are certainly fair game. In order to recover from his
estate, the Medicaid expenses must have been paid after your father
reached age 55.
Each state is required to establish criteria for "hardships" that
will exempt persons in certain situations (prescribed by the state)
from recovery efforts. For example, if an unmarried adult child
lived with your father in the family home for a year prior to his
death, there would be no recovery. And, according to federal law,
there would be no recovery if your father was survived by a child
who is under 21, blind or disabled. Also, there could be no recovery
until after the death of both the recipient and his/her surviving
spouse. In some instances, recovery is waived if there would be an
undue hardship (this is seldom granted) or if the recovery would not
be cost-effective such as where there is $10,000 in assets to pay
a $100,000 claim. Each state has somewhat differing laws that deal
with recovery, but all must comply with the established federal
guidelines.
Here, even if your father had not died, in all probability he would
have been disqualified from receiving further Medicaid benefits when
your aunt died, and he would have been required to spend down the
inheritance received from her. What can you do? Probably nothing
that would be successful. The problem here is that your aunt did not
prepare a proper will. That's why it's always a good idea for family
members to review not only their wills, but also the beneficiary
designations on their life insurance, annuities, IRA's, 401(k)s, and
pensions so as to either exclude incapacitated family members as
beneficiaries or create special needs trusts for them.
Q: After my father died, I moved in with my mother because her
health was failing. Four years later, after Mom has suffered several
strokes and hospitalizations, the doctors tell me I should begin
looking for a nursing home for her. Realizing that her assets would
not last long and that her income of $890 per month was insufficient
to pay for her care, I began looking for a Medicaid nursing
facility. Was I ever shocked at the admission process and the
complications involved! The hospital discharge personnel are nice,
but have been very little help. Exactly what are the admission
rules, and how will I know the best thing to do?
A: Unfortunately, the nursing home admission process is anything but
easy, especially if you have little or no money. Because there are
no centralized filing procedures, you will have to visit a number of
facilities, complete applications, and see your mother placed on
waiting lists for a bed. This process can be very frustrating,
especially when a family member is in a hospital and their Medicare
days are running out.
While the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 includes a number of
"guarantees" that are supposed to keep folks like your mother from
waiving her benefits, practically speaking, everything is a
negotiation. Discrimination by a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified
facility against Medicaid-eligible residents is prohibited in many
instances; however, nothing expressly prohibits unfair admission
practices based on source of payment. In fact, only a handful of
states expressly prohibits this type of discrimination and prevents
Medicaid-eligible individuals from being refused admission or placed
on Medicaid-only waiting lists even though beds are available.
Since the admission procedure is so important and complex, we
strongly suggest that you seek the assistance of a private geriatric
care manager (www.caremanager.org) who can talk with the hospital
discharge planner and help you find a suitable facility for your
mother. We also suggest that you contact an experienced elder law
attorney in your area who can review the admission documents to make
sure that your mother's rights are neither restricted nor altered.
In any event, don't sign any admission agreement that contains a
requirement that you will guarantee payment.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JAN L. WARNER received his A.B. and J.D. degrees from the University of South Carolina and earned a Master of Legal Letters (L.L.M.) in Taxation from the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a frequent lecturer at legal education and public information programs throughout the United States. His articles have been published in national and state legal publications. Jan Collins began co-authoring Flying SoloŽ in 1989. She has more than 27 years of experience as a journalist, writer, and editor. To comment or ask a question, please click here.
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