Because of the fact that Medicare won’t pay for long-term living assistance the Medicaid program is used by many Americans to cover long-term care costs. There is a $2,000 upper resource limit, but a lot of your valuables don’t count toward this figure such as your home and your vehicles. In addition, the healthy or community spouse can keep his or her half of shared resources up to a limit that stands at $113,640 in 2012.
You cannot find out that you need long-term care one day and place a lot of your money into a trust or into the bank account of a family member the next day because there is a five-year Medicaid look-back period. You are penalized if you intentionally rid yourself of financial resources within five years of applying for the program.
The Veterans Aid & Attendance special pension is a benefit that qualified veterans can utilize to defray their long-term care costs. It too has an upper resource limit that stands at $80,000 as of this writing. Up until now eligibility for the Veterans A & A pension was not subject to any look-back period.
However, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has introduced a measure that would put a three-year look-back period into place for veterans seeking eligibility for this program.
If you are interested in utilizing benefits programs such as these to underwrite your long-term care costs you have to plan ahead intelligently given the rules that govern the programs. It is possible to preserve significant resources while gaining eligibility but it takes expertise to navigate the system.
To have your own situation evaluated by an expert, simply take a moment to arrange for a consultation with a licensed and experienced Indianapolis elder law attorney.
Mr. Kraft assists clients primarily in the areas of estate planning and administration, Medicaid planning, federal and state taxation, real estate and corporate law, bringing the added perspective of an accounting background to his work.
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