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Charlie Traffas
Charlie Traffas has been involved in marketing, media, publishing and insurance for more than 40 years. In addition to being a fully-licensed life, health, property and casualty agent, he is also President and Owner of Chart Marketing, Inc. (CMI). CMI operates and markets several different products and services that help B2B and B2C businesses throughout the country create customers...profitably. You may contact Charlie by phone at (316) 721-9200, by e-mail at ctraffas@chartmarketing.com, or you may visit at www.chartmarketing.com.
What's New
2004-12-01 10:02:00
LTC insurance? I have Medicare.
: Can you get any help through Medicaid?  How does one qualify?
ANSWER: Yes, it is possible… but not too probable if you have much in the way of income and/or assets.  The first thing you would do is to make application.  Prior to Medicaid (SRS) paying, you will generally go through a 'spousal division of assets' program.  The maximum community spouse resource allowance this year is $92,760, not counting the residence and one vehicle (these are called exempt assets, there can be others).  This means that in the division of non-exempt assets between spouses, up to $92,760 could be put in the name of each spouse.  All amounts over $185,520 (2 x $92,760) would have to be spent down on the cost of care prior to this division of assets.  It would be wise to put the most liquid of these assets in the name of the spouse who is ill or afflicted.  That person would then have to spend his/her portion down to $2,000 on the cost of care, before being eligible for Medicaid.  The exempt income allowance this year is $1,692 per month.  In order to figure what Medicaid pays, take the total monthly income of the person or couple, and subtract the exempt amount. Then subtract this number from the total monthly cost of the care.  This is the amount Medicaid would pay (in accordance with this schedule re-figured each year) for the rest of the life of the confined spouse.  The amount you subtracted from the monthly cost of the care would have to be paid by you on a monthly basis.  SRS would however file a first class claim on the exempt assets for what they pay.  This first class claim goes ahead of all other claims to assets other than those for final expenses.  This first class claim would not be settled as long as the well spouse lived in the home.  If the well spouse should need care in the future, he/she would have to spend down his/her assets to $2,000.  At that point this spouse would also qualify for Medicaid.  Once both spouses were not residing in the home and/or neither had an intent to return, SRS would satisfy their first claim from the sale of the proceeds of the exempt assets.There are varying views about Medicaid from its recipients and their families.  The proponents of Medicaid say it should be looked upon as one of the best government programs there is because it guarantees each person that he or she will receive the type of care they need if they cannot pay for it.  The opponents say the program requires that the recipient and ultimately the recipient's spouse be at poverty in order to qualify; and that care received at many places when one is on Medicaid is substandard to care received when one is using his or her own assets/income to pay the bill.Next time we will talk about how real the risk is of needing long-term care, and the different ways to manage this risk.
 
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