As you get older, healthcare gets a lot more expensive. You may need to go on prescription medicine, get surgeries, hire at-home care, or go to a nursing home for 24/7 assistance. For a private room in a nursing home facility, you’re going to pay an average of $102,200 per year.
While you can use Medicare for up to 100 days of care in a skilled nursing facility during each benefit period, it won’t cover long-term care. That’s where Medicaid could kick in. However, there are some catches with Medicaid, and if you don’t qualify anymore, you’re going to have to pay out-of-pocket expenses. That’s why it’s critical to do crisis planning for when Medicaid ends.
Qualifying for Medicaid
In order to qualify for Medicaid, you must meet the financial requirements. In Washington, that means you can’t make more than $1,467 per month if you’re a single adult. There are also complicated asset tests to ensure you don’t have too many countable assets. If you do, you won’t qualify for Medicaid. Since the Medicaid application and tests are confusing, you need an estate planning and elder law lawyer to help you.
Doing Crisis Planning for When Medicaid Runs Out
People make errors when applying for Medicaid. They may transfer their assets to their children, sell their homes, or stop working in order to qualify. But all of these could be very costly mistakes and not worth it just to qualify.
With a lawyer’s assistance, you can engage in crisis planning to figure out how to qualify and pay your bills without giving up all your income and assets. Together, you can determine how to pay fewer bills as well as make sure Medicaid will cover your care. Plus, you will be able to speed up the approval process, so you don’t have to spend all your time stressing out about it. This will give you some much-needed peace of mind.
Contact an Elder Law Lawyer Today
If you need to do crisis planning for Medicaid, just pick up the phone and call Legacy Law Group at (509) 315-8087. We’re standing by and ready to help.
