When needing long term care and moving into a Skilled Nursing Facility, most people pay privately for the cost of the long-term care services until they can become eligible for Medicaid. Since very few people have long-term care insurance or can afford to pay for the high cost of nursing home care privately very long, eventually most people qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid has become the primary source of funding for nursing home care and has become the long-term care insurance of the middle class.
To Qualify for Florida’s Long-Term Care (LTCC) Medicaid program, you must have limited assets. The state considers assets as money in the bank, retirement accounts, land, and personal property, including cars.
A single applicant’s allowable “countable assets” limit is $2,000 to be eligible for Medicaid in Florida as of 2023. If both of the married couple needs to move into a skilled nursing facility in Florida, then the Medicaid eligibility allowable “countable assets” limit collectively is $3,000 as of 2023.
Non-Countable Assets
- Personal possessions, such as clothing, furniture, and jewelry.
- One motor vehicle of any value if it is used for transportation.
- The applicant’s principal residence provided it is in the same state in which the individual is applying for coverage. The home will not be considered a countable asset for Medicaid eligibility purposes if the nursing home resident intends to return home and only if the equity is less than $688,000. The house may be kept with no equity limit if the Medicaid applicant’s spouse or another dependent relative lives there.
- Prepaid funeral plans up to $2,500 can be set aside in a designated burial account.
WE CAN STILL HELP IF YOU DO NOT INITIALLY APPEAR TO QUALIFY:
We are NOT an attorney service and DO NOT OFFER legal advice. However, if you are over the asset limit or have had a transfer of assets within the last 60 months and are seeking acceptance into the Medicaid program, then Medicaid and More… can setup a FREE CONSULTATION with a trusted Elder Law Attorney who can discuss with you a Medicaid Planning strategy to get you approved for benefits.
Medicaid and More… would continue to file and process the Medicaid application while you follow the Legal Advice of the Elder Law Attorney.
Transfer of Asset Rules
Medicaid has a “lookback” period for all transfer of assets over the last 60 months from the Medicaid application date. If there was a transfer of assets, then Medicaid would impose a penalty for that transfer for a period during which the person transferring the assets (and his or her spouse) would be determined ineligible for Medicaid. The period of ineligibility would be determined by dividing the amount of the asset that was transferred by what Medicaid determined to be the average private pay cost of a nursing home in the state of Florida. This formula provides the number of months an applicant would be determined as Medicaid ineligible.
The transfer of asset penalty period begins when these four criteria have been met:
- the applicant has moved into a nursing home.
- the applicant meets the asset limits for Medicaid eligibility.
- an application for Medicaid coverage has been submitted.
- the applicant has been approved for coverage of benefits all except for the transfer of assets.
WE CAN STILL HELP IF YOU DO NOT INITIALLY APPEAR TO QUALIFY:
We are NOT an attorney service and DO NOT OFFER legal advice. However, if you are over the asset limit or have had a transfer of assets within the last 60 months and are seeking acceptance into the Medicaid program, then Medicaid and More… can setup a FREE CONSULTATION with a trusted Elder Law Attorney who can discuss with you a Medicaid Planning strategy to get you approved for benefits.
Medicaid and More… would continue to file and process the Medicaid application while you follow the Legal Advice of the Elder Law Attorney.
