There are a number of different myths about Medicaid. Continue reading to learn more and reach out to our skilled Montgomery estate planning attorney today. Our legal team is on your side.
What are the most common myths about Medicaid?
- Medicare will protect my long-term care expenses. Medicare’s coverage of long-term care expenses is relatively narrow. Keep in mind that Medicare covers only up to 100 days of “skilled nursing care” per sickness. In order to meet these requirements, you must enter a Medicare-approved “skilled nursing facility” or nursing home within thirty days of a hospital stay that survived at least three days. Also, you must be displaying signs of progress while in the facility or your Medicare coverage will be released. The care provided in a nursing home must be for the same situation as provided during the hospital stay. Once Medicare coverage for your nursing home expenses is finished, you will need to either privately pay for long-term care expenses or qualify for Medicaid.
- You need to be broke to qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid helps underprivileged individuals that need aid paying for their long-term care costs, however, you will want to recognize that you do not need to be impoverished to be eligible. A single Medicaid applicant can have no more than $2,000 in assets in order to be authorized for Medicaid, but there are some assets that are deemed noncountable.
- To be able to qualify for Medicaid, you should distribute your assets to your kids. Medicaid places a penalty on an applicant who sends or gifts assets out of his or her name to another person or entity without receiving fair market value in return. The penalty set is a period of time that Medicaid will not pay for the applicant’s care. The amount of time for the penalty period is chosen based upon the number of assets transferred within five years of the date of the application for Medicaid. But, proper planning and consideration must be used if you or your loved one are considering transferring assets.
- A prenuptial agreement will protect my assets from being counted if my spouse needs Medicaid. A prenuptial agreement does not keep your property separate for purposes of Medicaid eligibility. The goal of this agreement is to keep spouses’ property independent, in case there is a death or divorce. Medicaid does not observe the terms of prenuptial agreements.
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