Q: What’s the difference between Medicare and Medicaid?

A: Medicare is health insurance for people over sixty-five. It pays for hospital stays, doctor visits, and medical tests. It covers only limited skilled nursing care. Medicaid is health insurance for limited income people who meet certain economic criteria for eligibility – it does cover the costs of nursing care.

Q: What is Medicaid Planning?

A: Medicaid Planning involves developing a plan to reallocate your assets in such a way that Medicaid will not take them into consideration when determining your eligibility for coverage. If nursing home care is needed in the future, you will then qualify to have Medicaid pay for the cost of care, rather than depleting all your resources to cover these costs.

Q: How can we find out if we’re eligible for Medicaid coverage?

A: Medicaid eligibility is based on the amount of your monthly income and your assets. If both are within the very low limits set by Medicaid, you qualify for coverage. The Law Office of Meg Elizabeth Goblet, P.C.'s job is to protect your assets in such a way that they are not included in Medicaid’s determination of whether you qualify for coverage.

Q: If my spouse goes into a nursing home, will I have to give away all or most of my assets to keep them from being taken to cover the costs of care?

A: This question goes to the heart of our Estate Planning mission. The Law Office of Meg Elizabeth Goblet, P.C. uses Medicaid Trusts and other techniques to ensure that your assets will not be taken to cover the cost of nursing home care and ensuring that those assets are not counted towards your eligibility for Medicaid.

Q: Why should I apply for Medicaid coverage?

A: Most families cannot support the enormous cost of nursing home care. Those who fall within the qualification guidelines for Medicaid may be well advised to apply for coverage. The program offers people a means of providing a decent level of skilled nursing care for their loved one.

Q: How much will it cost to protect my family and my assets?

A: We offer our services as per a specific fee schedule based on your particular needs. Our services are designed to pay for themselves over a relatively short time. For example, our Foundation Medicaid plan with Trust is approximately the same as the average cost of one month’s stay in a skilled nursing facility. By helping you obtain Medicaid qualification and protect your personal assets, this plan can effectively cover that amount many times over.

Q: I’ve heard Medicaid can take our house for reimbursement. Is that true?

A: No, they cannot take your house, nor do they want to. While Medicaid does require the spouses of beneficiaries to contribute some portion of their available assets (above a level determined by each state) to the cost of care, the federal Spousal Impoverishment Protection law excludes your family home up to $500,00.00 from that calculation.

Q: How do I know if we’re eligible for Medicaid coverage?

A: To put it simply, eligibility is based upon your ability or inability to pay long-term care expenses. Medicaid allows each state to establish specific standards for eligibility based on personal income and assets. The general standard is that the applicant can be eligible for coverage if the couple’s “countable” assets (cash, investments, etc.) and income fall within state-designated limits

Q: If my spouse goes into a nursing home, will I have to give away most or all of my assets in order to protect them from being taken to cover the cost of care?

A: No. Under federal Spousal Impoverishment Protection rules, you can receive Medicaid benefits and retain your home, your vehicle, your household effects, and “countable” assets up to a state-determined maximum.

Q: What is a Health Care Proxy?

A: It is a document that empowers someone else to make health care decisions for you in the event that you have lost the capacity to make those decisions yourself, due to some disability. Bear in mind that, in many states, the decision of whether or not to administer care to someone who is incapacitated automatically defaults to the physician, not the spouse…unless you have it in writing that you want someone else to have that power. Having The Law Office of Meg Elizabeth Goblet, P.C. prepare a health care proxy for you is a good way to ensure that your decisions are being implemented by someone you trust and that your specific wishes with respect to medical intervention are spelled out in unambiguous detail.

Q: What is a Power Of Attorney?

A: Power of attorney is a document that authorizes someone else to make legal decisions on your behalf in the event you are unable to make them yourself – decisions and actions such as paying bills, selling real estate, accessing bank accounts, and so on. There are several different types:

• Non-Durable Power of Attorney. – Your designated agent is only authorized to make legal decisions for you until your disability. When disability occurs, the power of attorney terminates.
• Durable Power of Attorney. – The legal authority is still valid after you become disabled.
• Springing Power of Attorney. – This is a variety of durable power of attorney in which the authority to act is triggered by some future event, identified in advance, typically involving physical or mental incapacity.

Bear in mind that power of attorney documents are valid when signed, kind of like a blank check. One important goal of this designation is to provide specific instructions consistent with your estate plan, so that important planning decisions you have made cannot be undone through use of a power of attorney. For more details, contact us today.

Q: Why should I go to The Law Office of Meg Elizabeth Goblet, P.C. to establish a Medicaid Trust?

A: Not all trusts are created equal. We provide trusts that are unique legal documents that provide for the protection and preservation of your assets, with specific attention to the requirements of Medicaid qualification.

Q: Why do I need estate planning?

A: Simply put, effective estate planning is the best way to ensure that you will be able to control your property while you’re alive and well, provide for your loved ones and yourself if you become disabled, and leave your assets when you die to whom you want, when you want, the way that you want. Every state has laws that govern what becomes of your assets if you die or become disabled. But the government also allows you to establish your own set of rules that supercede those laws, if you so choose. The process of establishing your rules is called estate planning. So, for instance, while the state may require your will to go through probate, you can choose to spare your heirs this sometimes drawn-out legal process. But you can only do it through estate planning.

Q: I hold joint accounts with my kids. Are they safe?

A: No. Medicaid treats any asset with your name on it as yours unless you can overtly prove that the joint owner actually contributed assets to the account. To learn more about options for asset protection, contact us today.

Q: Can I protect assets by transferring them to my kids?

A: No. If your children get into financial trouble, the assets become available to their creditors. If your children go through divorce, the assets may become available to their spouses through divorce settlements. If your children have health problems, the assets may be at risk, as well. In any case, by transferring your assets, you are losing control of them. For more information on asset protection options, contact us today. In addition, Medicaid now has a 5 year look back for all transfers made without consideration.

Q: Are my assets safe in a revocable living trust?

A: No. General rule of law holds that whatever you can access, others may access as well. Assets in a revocable living trust are open and available to you; therefore, they are also open and available to Medicaid. What would make your assets safe is an irrevocable living trust, such as the Medicaid Trusts we offer. These allow you to protect your assets. For details on this and other Medicaid Planning Issues, contact us today.