A year ago I went through the spend down procedure in Indiana to get my mom on Medicaid to receive a Medicaid waiver for assisted living. We have not used the Medicaid waiver or Medicaid to date, and her bank account has risen above the max I was told it needed to be which was 2k. Now it looks like she will end up in a nursing home under Medicaid. Does anyone know what the penalty will be for the bank account being above the 2k?
-last year your mom appear to be at the point health wise that she was going to need to go into a facility.
-Mom had some $ & over the $2,000 individual asset maximum that most states have as a limit for nonexempt assets for LTC Medicaid in a facility eligibility
-so you as a good POA spent down moms $ for her to get her to the 2K sweet spot in anticipation of imminent NH admission
-then mom gets better so mom doesn’t need to spend so much every month & her bank account builds back up
-mom now over 2K
thats the situation isn’t it?
If so, Not a problem. The maximum allowed for income or for assets only matters when they are actually on Medicaid. Once on LTC Medicaid she need to make sure that at the end of every month is at or below the asset maximum. She (you) need to find legit stuff to buy for her so y’all bring that bank balance down again.
if she’s living with you and not paying room&board or rent or a % share of expenses (like her part of the house is 37% so she pays 37% of water bill), get that going. If this is a lot of $, like months and months of her SS check, that could be thousands. The easiest spend on 8-10K would be a fully paid preneed funeral and burial (make sure it’s under the Medicaid max for preneed). Or an expensive wheelchair. Or dental work. All cost $$$. Or ya just fold and private pay the facility the overage and once she hits again the under 2K (or whatever your state has for the max), she files for LTC Medicaid.
Can you not simply private pay the NH fees until she is below 2K? Or have a consult with an eldercare attorney? Is her funeral pre-paid?