NYC Medicaid lawyer

New York Medicaid Law – Pooled Trusts

Published on: August 23, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

Pooled Trusts Eligibility

Pooled Trusts are a type of trust applicable to those individuals who are seeking public assistance benefits, such as Medicaid, to become eligible financially by setting aside funds in a trust for additional needs. The trust allows its beneficiaries to preserve a specified amount of money in a trust to pay for supplemental care not covered by public assistance programs. For the elderly, many need public benefits assistance as they continue to age but do not qualify based on higher income. In these situations, a pooled income trust will benefit an elderly person by allowing them to continue their lifestyle, which is usually seeking to stay in the home, while also obtaining homecare services and paying for what their budget requires.

New York Medicaid Rules

BACK TO THE BASICS – MEDICAID PENALTY PERIOD

Published on: May 19, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

RULE OF HALVES

Many people find themselves going into nursing homes earlier than expected and without the appropriate planning. Things happen in life to derail our best laid or thought out plans. With more and more elderly Americans living longer, the need for nursing home care is increasing and will continue to increase indefinitely. Whenever someone does not properly plan for going into a nursing home, often their personal funds will be the basis upon which they will pay for their nursing home care. Certainly, there are those amongst us who purchase long term care insurance but for the majority of us, we rely on utilizing Medicare or private insurance or some combination of the two.

This is a misconception, insofar as the most that Medicare will pay for is 20 days for full nursing home care and up to 80 days partial care, for a total of 100 days. Moreover, this stay must be preceded by a three day hospital stay. Any more time in the nursing home requires that the patient either pay through private insurance or by private pay. Granted entry into a nursing home often comes as a surprise to many, but for those who have an idea that they may have to enter into a nursing home, they scramble last minute to dispose of their assets with the mistaken belief that they will be able to show to the government that they do not have any assets and are thus eligible for Medicaid, to pay for their further nursing home stay.

MEDICAID TRANSFER AFTER ADMISSION TO A RETIREMENT COMMUNITY

Published on: May 10, 2016 | by Ettinger Law Firm

THOROUGH PLANNING NEEDED IN ADVANCE

This blog has discussed the necessity of proper and thorough planning to ensure a smooth transition into a continuing care retirement community. This requires, among other things, that a person properly and legally transfer all of their assets, or a substantial portion of their assets that is, to people or entities that would enable them to be eligible for Medicaid. As many people know, there is a look back period where the state examines all transfers of assets or money over a certain period of time for purposes of Medicaid eligibility purposes.

If during that time a person transferred any aset for less than full market value or did not transfer the assets to a proper investment vehicle that is otherwise exempt from Medicaid assets, the Medicaid applicant will likely be denied for financial reasons. In other words Medicaid will claim that the applicant has too many assets or their income is too high to qualify. Some examples of a Medicaid exempt transfer is the purchase of a graveyard plot, prepayment for funeral services or the purchase of a short term Medicaid annuity. An interesting case from November, 2015 out of Broome County, entitled Good Shepherd Village at Endwell v. Peter Yezzi shows the many problems that can result when people start their Medicaid planning after admission to a continuing care retirement community.