To learn more about Medicaid myths, continue reading and reach out to our skilled Woodland Hills, California estate planning attorney. Our legal team is on your side. Give us a call today.
What are the most common myths about Medicaid?
- In order to be able to qualify for Medicaid, you should transmit your assets to your kids. Medicaid puts 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 length of the penalty period is determined based upon the number of assets transferred within five years of the date of the application for Medicaid. However, appropriate planning and consideration must be exercised if you or your loved one are considering transferring assets.
- Medicare will cover my long-term care expenses. Medicare’s coverage of long-term care expenses is relatively narrow. Medicare covers only up to 100 days of “skilled nursing care” per illness. To meet these provisions, you must join a Medicare-approved “skilled nursing facility” or nursing home within thirty days of a hospital stay that lasted at least three days. Furthermore, you must be exhibiting signs of improvement while in the facility or your Medicare coverage will be terminated. The care supplied in a nursing home must be for the same condition 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 pay for their long-term care costs, but you do not need to be entirely impoverished to qualify. A single Medicaid applicant can have no more than $2,000 in assets in order to qualify for Medicaid, but there are some assets that are considered noncountable.
- A prenuptial agreement will protect my assets from being counted if my spouse needs Medicaid. A prenuptial agreement does not keep your property independent for purposes of Medicaid eligibility. The goal of this agreement is to keep spouses’ property individual, in the event of death or divorce. Medicaid does not honor the terms of prenuptial agreements.
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Working with an experienced estate planning attorney, such as Jaci Feldman of the Woodland Hills, California, Law Offices of Yacoba Ann Feldman, will ensure that you are taken care of when you need it most. Do not delay. Estate planning is a more urgent matter than you may think. You never know what the future holds. Contact The Law Offices of Yacoba Ann Feldman to schedule a consultation today.
