If you have a loved one with disabilities, you may be familiar with ABLE accounts, authorized by Congress in 2014 under the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act. States can offer ABLE accounts to help people who become disabled before age 26 and their families save and pay for disability-related expenses. These expenses include housing,…
Is Medicaid planning complex? Sometimes, Medicaid planning can be easy. An example might be when there is a need for a Qualified Income Trust, for a nursing home resident who has spent down their assets to practically zero, and whose income is above the Medicaid limit of $2,313 for 2019. You just fill out the…
Frequently, we are asked whether the client can engage in Medicaid planning and the preparation of a qualified income trust, or Miller Trust, on their own. The short answer is that “yes” a person can do their own Medicaid planning and prepare their own qualified income trust. What you “can” do and what you “should”…
Interesting Facts About Long Term Care In Florida Florida nursing homes are serving increasingly diverse patient base and providing a greater variety of acute care, rehabilitative and convalescent services that cannot be delivered elsewhere. Key Facts There are 683 licensed nursing homes in Florida, representing approximately 83,587 beds (Souce: Agency for Health Care Administration) The estimated…
You may be afraid of losing your house to the nursing home, the State, or otherwise, if you must enter a nursing home and apply for Medicaid benefits to pay for the nursing home. While this fear may be well-founded in the vast majority of states, transferring the home to your children is usually not…
Often our clients seeking Medicaid benefits to help pay for nursing home care, or other long term care, are concerned about financial protections available to the stay at home spouse. They want to know how many assets or how much income the healthy spouse will be allowed to keep to ensure the financial well-being of…
Americans spent nearly $163 billion for long-term care in skilled nursing facilities and continuing care retirement communities (CCRC) in 2016, according to a recent U.S. Government report. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ National Health Care Spending report for 2016, published December 27, 2017, in Health Affairs, found that total healthcare spending in the…
Have you or a loved one been denied Medicare-covered services because you’re “not improving” or “not making progress”? Many health care providers are still not aware that Medicare is required to cover skilled nursing and home care even if a patient is not showing improvement. If you are denied coverage based on this outdated standard,…
Immediate annuities can be a useful tool to protect the spouse of a nursing home resident who applies for Medicaid. These types of annuities allow the nursing home resident to spend down assets and give the spouse a guaranteed income. Immediate annuities are an available planning tool in the State of Florida. Medicaid is the…
New Medicare rules designed to give nursing home residents more control of their care are being phased into effect. The rules give nursing home residents more options regarding meals and visitation as well as make changes to discharge and grievance procedures. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid finalized the rules — the first comprehensive update to…
