Claiming a parent as a dependent: Does this affect his Medicaid eligibility?

Medicaid caring for him in a nursing home in home or health insurance?

If he is in a NH you cannot claim him. He is being supported by the State/government not you. You have to provide over 50% of his care. So if he brings in 10k a year and and you have to provide another 10k to provide his care, then maybe you can claim him. But you have to prove it. Him living with you does not make him a dependent. If most of his income is SS and other income does not amount to a certain amount a year, he may not have to pay federal and State taxes anyway.

You need to talk to a tax accountant before you go this route.

This is a question for an accountant because it is a question you cannot afford to get wrong.
Saying someone is your "dependent" means that you are providing for more than a certain percentage of cost of that persons care. As for your child you provide everything. That cost means that your senior is not without financial resources as YOU are in fact a financial resource. That means that senior may NOT be eligible for government assistance.
So check with an accountant and check with medicaid itself. Again, you can't get this one wrong, so don't depend on a Forum in which we all have our own opinions but few of us are expert trained advise.
Good luck. Interesting question.

How much of a tax savings are you looking at? Like six figures?
and how much risk are you good on being at?

Here’s why I ask: average LTC Medicaid NH room&board payment is abt $190 a day. So roughly $70K that Medicaid pays a NH per year for room & board. Private pay rates tend to be 2x - 3x Medicaid, so 140K - 280K per year.

So if Medicaid - for whatever reason due to reviewing “dependency” - delayed or disallowed his LTC eligibility, do you have the $ to pay up front each month at private pay rate for 3-6 mo to a year? And you ok on running this risk?….. like it’s not going to be an issue that interferes for paying your own personal bills and you have the time & humor to answer in detail to whatever minutia Medicaid requests on the dependency and within 14 days over the rest of 2022?

If not, my suggestion is just fold it and let it be that in your heart and in your wallet, you find contentment that you did all you could to financially support dad and forgetabtit with IRS & Medicaid.

I have a similar concern for our LO regarding the Medicaid portion of your question. We already know we can declare LO as a dependent once she is a ward because the IRS web site says so. But whether or not we should because that might impact the Medicaid, hmmm...good question OP...

Update: I contacted the state Medicaid office and got the following reply. The state is Hawaii. Perhaps other states are different.

“Thank you for your recent inquiry! Please indicate that you claim him on his application, however we would not count your income towards his eligibility.”