Medicaid Spend Down Rules

And now I would like to talk to you about elder care. On June 30 of 2009, the government has mandated rules and regulations on restricting the transfer of assets of the elderly. There is now a five year look-back provision if you apply to Medicaid to qualify for the nursing home – the Medicaid nursing home. These restrictive laws are intended to impoverish the healthy spouse.

Before you can qualify to receive, or to enter a nursing home, you must spend down your assets, which means that, if you are of the age where the nursing home may become an issue, in order to protect your wife, or the healthy spouse (i.e. you or your wife, whoever is not sick) you must do Medicaid planning 5 years earlier than the date that you went in to the nursing home. If you are the son or daughter of elderly parents, you should become fully aware of these very restrictive rules where the government is going to ask you to spend down all of your assets before you can become qualified for Medicaid eligibility. So if all of the assets are spent on the sick spouse, the healthy spouse has no place to go, so you, the son and daughter, will have to step in and support your mom or your dad.