Home Care transfer rules for MedicaidKoldin Law Center E-Mail Newsletter This issue of the Koldin Law Center e-mail mailing list reviews the new Home Care transfer rules for Medicaid. We all hope that we will be fortunate and avoid long term care in a nursing home. In the event of illness, our goal would be to remain at home with home health care. Other than long term care insurance or self pay, Medicaid is the only government program that pays for ongoing long term care at home or in a nursing home. Without advance planning, a single person would not be eligible for Medicaid until his/her life savings is spent down to $4,200. For a husband and wife, the healthy spouse would have to spend down their life savings to $5,400 for certain types of home care. On February 8, 2006, a new federal law (Deficit Reduction Act of 2005) took effect and increased the look back period from 3 to 5 years. This means that assets that are transferred (gifted) today to another person, or to a specially designed Trust that complies with the government requirements, are not protected until 5 years have passed. This new law applied primarily to nursing home care. In a recent Directive (issued September 24, 2007), New York State has determined that the look back period does not apply to home care. This means that assets can be transferred and the ill person can be made immediately eligible for Medicaid for home care. However, if the ill person requires nursing home care within 5 years of the transfers, the assets are still considered available and would have to be used to pay nursing home bills. Furthermore, New York State could at anytime enact legislation to impose a 5 year look back period. If you are currently private paying for home care or may need home care in the future, call the Koldin Law Center for advice and help. Knowing that the home care rules could change at any time, it is imperative to review all your options and do your planning before the laws change. Our Attorneys Are Available to Speak to Your Organization Our Attorneys speak to groups throughout New York State as a public service. If you would like to arrange for one of our Attorneys to speak to your group, please contact our office. We Appreciate Your Referrals We have been told by many clients who are in a crisis that they wish they had known about our firm much sooner. We are proud of the many families we have helped in times of crisis. We are also proud of the many families we helped avoid financial crisis by doing estate planning in advance. We all share the responsibility for making our family and friends aware of the planning options available to them. Your referral to the Koldin Law Center could make a major difference in the lives of your family and friends if they are someday faced with a long term illness. Remember that the Koldin Law Center offers many services for clients of all ages. Our services range from basic estate planning such as a simple will to complex estate planning including asset preservation planning. There is no fee for the initial consultation. |
