Medicaid Eligibility

New York Medicaid Laws Attorney

Medicaid Financial Eligibility Rules

In order to qualify for Medicaid, your life savings cannot be greater than the Medicaid resource limit. Certain assets are not counted as being part of your life savings. For example, if you have a spouse living in the family home, then the home does not count for Medicaid resource limit purposes.

If your life savings is higher than the Medicaid limit, you will not be eligible to receive Medicaid coverage for your nursing home or home care costs. You will be told to spend your life savings towards your cost of care until you are down to the Medicaid levels.

You should never assume that it is too late. Quite often you have legal options to save some or all of your life savings. The Koldin Law Center, P.C. can represent you throughout the entire Medicaid process.

There are many special exceptions to the basic Medicaid rules where additional assets can be protected.

Single Person Eligibility Rules in New York State

The Medicaid resource limit for a single person in New York State for 2008 is $4,350 ($13,050 beginning April 1, 2008). You will be forced to sell your investments, cash in your CD's, cash in your life insurance policies, sell your summer cottage, and sometimes even sell your home.

If you are in a Nursing Home, you will only be entitled to keep $50 of your monthly income. If you are receiving home care, you will be entitled to keep $745 of your monthly income (2008 figures).

Married Couple Eligibility Rules in New York State

The assets of both spouses are treated as being available to the spouse who is applying for Medicaid.

The ill spouse is treated as a single person and is entitled to keep the same income and resources as a single person.

The healthy spouse is entitled to keep a minimum spousal allowance of $74,820 up to a maximum of $104,400 of the couple's combined life savings. The healthy spouse is also entitled to keep at least $2,610 of the couple's combined income. If the healthy spouse has income of his/her own above $2,610, then the Medicaid Agency will "request" a contribution of 25% of all income above $2,610.

For certain types of Home Care, the healthy spouse is not entitled to the spousal income and resource allowances, but instead the couple is entitled to keep a total of $6,400 ($19,200 beginning April 1, 2008) of life savings and $1,087 of combined income. In this situation, the healthy spouse would be able to retain more life savings and income if the ill spouse were placed into a nursing home.

Medicaid Transfer Rules

As a general rule, you cannot transfer assets for the purpose of qualifying for Medicaid. However, there are many exceptions to this rule. These exceptions can be important for preserving your life savings in a time of immediate crisis.

The transfer of assets can result in a penalty period of ineligibility for Medicaid coverage.

The Medicaid Agency is entitled to look at all your financial transactions for the 60 months immediately preceding your Medicaid application. Medicaid can review your bank statements and question each of your deposits and withdrawals for the past 60 months.

In the event you apply for Medicaid before the expiration of the 60 month penalty period, the government has a formula that could extend your period of ineligibility beyond the 60 month period.

If you decide to make transfers, you should then review whether it would be better to make gifts to other people or to an Irrevocable Trust.. As part of making gifts , you may also want to consider transferring your home with a retained life Estate.

In New York State, there are some types of home health care coverage where there is no transfer penalty.

Koldin Law Center, P.C., can help you with any Medicaid transfer or eligibility questions by scheduling a free initial consultation. The lawyers at our firm have over 30 years of experience helping individuals and families file for Medicaid assistance.

We offer legal assistance to clients at our offices in Syracuse and Rochester, the counties of Monroe, and Onondaga and throughout upstate New York.

If you are unsure if you are eligible for Medicaid, it is important to contact our Medicaid law attorneys immediately. We will discuss your legal options before you decide to transfer your financial assets and personal property.