Problems with Using Non – Lawyer Company to Handle Your Medicaid Application
May 1, 2014
This edition of the Koldin Report E-Newsletter reviews the problems with using a non-lawyer company to handle your Medicaid Application. Some Nursing Homes have begun to refer their patients to non-lawyer companies to handle the Medicaid application process and this can lead to terrible results. These non-lawyer companies are not your advocates. They do not provide you with legal advice on how to protect some or all of your life savings. The job of these companies is to monitor the spending away of your life savings on your Nursing Home bills down to the Medicaid eligibility levels ($14,550 for a single person in 2014) and then handling the Medicaid application process on your behalf. Nursing home patients and their families are told it is too late to protect any of the life savings because they did not plan at least 5 years in advance. This is not true. There is something you can do. There are many different ways that some or all of your life savings can be protected depending on your circumstances. The important point is that you should be advised of your legal options, not told that there is nothing you can do. Once you have spent your life savings towards the cost of care, then it really is too late. You cannot get the money back once you have spent it towards your care. You need to protect your savings before you spend it down. Nursing homes often wait until you have spent most or all of your life savings before even referring you to these private companies to handle the Medicaid application process. It is never too late to protect at least some of your assets. There is a great deal of misinformation being distributed. Many incorrectly believe they have no choice other than to spend away all of their life savings. Don’t let this happen to you, your family, or your friends. If you know someone who is ill and already in a Nursing Home or could potentially need Nursing Home Care in the future, tell them that with proper legal advice, there is something they can do. The next series of Koldin E-Newsletters will review examples of how you can protect some or all of your life savings even when you are already in a Nursing Home, beginning with ways to protect the family home. All past issues of our E-newsletters are saved on our website can be found by clicking here. The Koldin Law Center, P.C. practices extensively in the field of Medicaid Law. If you or a family member is receiving long term care at home, at an assisted living facility, or at a nursing home, or is at risk of needing such care in the near future, the Koldin Law Center, P.C. is available to assist and counsel you. There is no fee for the initial consultation to discuss your options. When the Koldin Law Center, P.C. handles a Medicaid case, we handle much more than just the application process. We review with our clients the proper steps to protect their assets beyond establishing initial Medicaid eligibility.