I believe my mother will have to go to a NH in the very near future. She basically meets Medicare requirements except for her bank account which is modest but is also a joint account in my name and hers. So, does Medicare consider the entire sum to be hers or is it apportioned equally since it is in 2 names?
When contemplating or anticipating application for Medicaid there are several important areas to pay attention to:
1. Make sure you have proper documents in place - You will not be able to assist your mother when she in incapacitated unless you have a well written Durable Power of Attorney and Health Care Surrogate Designation in place or, a Revocable Living Trust with assets actually titled into the name of the trust.
2. Income and Asset limits - In Florida, the Medicaid eligibility limits are $2,000 in assets and $2,130 per month in income. Accounts in joint name are considered to be 100% owned by the applicant unless it can be proved that the joint holder contributed to the account. If at the time of application mom is substantially over either of these limits the situation can be cured without wantonly “spending down”. The goal of proper Medicaid financial planning is to preserve assets for the benefit of the elder while they are receiving benefits. You can do a search or visit my website for more information on countable vs. non-countable assets.
3. Remaining assets at the demise of the Medicaid recipient - Florida has a Medicaid Estate Recovery Program whereby the state will make claim to any assets owned by the Medicaid recipient that are subject to probate. The goal, therefore, is to make sure any assets (including real property) are not subject to probate. Assets in a living trust and bank accounts and real property properly titled will avoid probate as will IRA's and insurance policies as long as the beneficiaries named are real persons.
You may wish to investigate Medicaid sooner rather than later as mom may be eligible for home and community based services. If she is the surviving spouse of an eligible veteran she may also qualify for funds to assist her at home.
P.S. When we applied for Medicaid for my dad they looked at his bank account that had my brother's name on it but not MY bank account which had HIS name on it.