I am trying to apply for Medicaid for my 89-year-old mother. She is currently in a skilled nursing care facility. She has moderate dementia and also has suffered several back factures although still somewhat mobile. While I was applying for assisted living through Medicaid, she became increasingly agitated towards staff members and other patients, so the hospital is insisting she be discharged. Now they are saying she may qualify for home care for 6 weeks. I know eventually she will need a nursing home or assisted living arrangements because the home situation is not great. My question. 1. She has about $4,500 dollars over the amount of cash she can have to qualify. Can I pay her accumulation of medical bills? She also needs some items repaired in the house (a 1992 single wide trailer). 2. Will her being discharged stop the Medicaid application process? Do I need to get the overage spent down to qualify? Does the asset limit include Medicaid home care?
The biggest Medicaid program is Medicaid as health insurance. It’s for those who are low/lower income. For those over 65 they become “duals” so on MediCARE and MedicAID for health insurance.
The program that can pay for AL is a LTC Medicaid “waiver” program. LTC is a very narrow eligibility with income and asset maximums. It primarily is set to pay for custodial care costs in a NH. For AL it’s on a waiver system and tend to be quite limited for most States. Tends to be a waiting list for a. al or MC bed. Some States do not even do waivers; they are only doing LtC for those in a NH/SNF. When they go onto LTC Medicaid, they actually will be on 3 different programs: Medicare and Medicaid as health insurance and then LTC Medicaid or its waiver for the facility she is living in.
LTC for most States is a max of $2901 mo income and no more than 2K in exempt assets. A home and a car can be an exempt asset for them HOWEVER! Due to the required Share of Cost they will have zero $ to pay any of the costs related to their ownership of a house or a car. Give hard thought as to what this means for that double wide your mom owns. Or anything else she has monthly payments on.
Also try to find out IF the trailer she owns is considered by the State to be a “home” or is considered a “vehicle”. There are different maximum value for each category.
Those are great questions. Don't rely on others for the right answer. Go to the professional; the source.
Yes, Medicaid does pay for home care. There are different classifications, or programs which she may qualify for, such as an elderly waiver, or Home and Community Based Services. Ask the county worker about options which may apply to her situation. Being discharged from the nursing home or hospital should not have any affect on the application.