Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Medicaid Eligibility



As we continue to discuss the needs of families with loved ones who are disabled, let's take a look at the Medicaid law. Medicaid provides funding for longterm care nursing facilities, inpatient hospital care, clinical services, psychiatric care, prescription drugs and medical devices. Disabled persons are a category covered by medicaid if they meet the financial criteria.

The financial requirement for Medicaid requires that an applicant have assets, including income and resources, below a certain threshold. This is generally $2,000 in states like Pennsylvania. This criteria is also applicable to SSI.

Money or other assets of a disabled family member CAN NOT be transferred into a Trust to qualify for Medicaid benefits. There are special exceptions to this rule with very specific guidelines that MUST be followed. Such Trusts that can be used are payback trust; pooled trust; and, discretionary trust (this trust DOES NOT contain the money of the disabled family member). More on each of these trusts will follow over the next few days.

Contact us at http://www.ythlaw.com/ for more information on probate, estate planning and elder law.

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