Title 19 is a PIA.
My mother is in a NH. I was told to file when her assets reached 10,000 and next check is due to the home. Everything online says to "file right away" .
So, with her 16,000 bill about to come in a couple weeks, I filed.
"Denied- too early" because instead of taking 30 days to complete the job, they took a day and her assets are still too high. GAH!
The check I wrote was for December this next one is for Jan. and she said--
oh crap now I am forgetting what she said, something like I cannot 'prepay'...
She said I cant file more than ? days in advance of .... ?
which I thought I was doing because I thought they would take longer.
Going to have to file the whole dam thing again= it was 4 inches thick.
stress is making me forget the conversation now :(
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The finance director will not call me back so this is SO HELPFUL.
now I just have to think of what the heck to spend $60 a month on :P
Medicaid allows for them to have some assets....for $ in the bank for most states this is a maximum of $ 2,000.00. For my mom I had it at about $ 1,700 when I submitted her Medicaid application. It's totally ok and gives you a cushion to buy them something if need be or to use for floral funeral expenses. Her bank account was done POD (pay on death) to me so not an asset of her estate. (btw still have the account as I'm in probate phase and it's now the estate account). My point is dad does NOT have to get down to zero, he can have a small asset kitty in his bank account.
Once on Medicaid, all his monthly income must be paid to the facility LESS whatever your state has set as their personal needs allowance. The PNA varies by state from $ 35 - $ 105. For my mom in TX PNA was $ 60 a mo.
Now most NH will press upon family to have the elders monthly income go to them directly and then the NH will put the PNA amount in a resident trust fund at the NH. Some NH charge for cable or phones and the charge is miraculously!! the exact amount of the PNA. If this NH does this, I'd be wary of anything they do.
You as DPOA can decline cable & phone too. But I digress, you do not have to have their monthly income go directly to the NH. Dad can continue to have it go to his bank account and you write a check to the NH for the required co pay less the PNA. I did this for my mom (she got $800 from SS and 1K retirement so every month the NH got a check from my moms account for $ 1740) and although her first NH was very pissy about me doing this, it is allowed as its the elders income and you as their DPOA determines how it's to be managed. My moms second NH was totally ok with this approach. Medicaid pays for their room & board and whatever medical costs that Medicare doesn't. But Medicaid doesn't pay for hair salon or barber shop. This is what the resident trust fund at the NH is mainly used for. I kept my moms trust account at about $ 100/200 so that she could go to beauty shop as needed and sign off for payment deducted from her resident trust account. Her NH also had a "canteen" that she would buy candy, decorated hair barrettes from and again sign off from the resident trust account to pay. Her Nh sent a statement every 90 days so I knew when it as running low and need $. For me having moms bank account grow by $ 60 each month worked as I lived out of state so when I came in every 3 mos, I could do a bigger buy of toiletries, clothing etc for her & also I did not have to go to the NH business office to sign out for $ (which closed early on Friday and through the weekend) plus i was pretty OCD on controlling moms finances. Give some thought as to what works best for you and take that path. Good luck!
I have no one to talk to about this except a nonverbal man.
I still have to call the financial person at nh and dss today to figure out whether to re-file or just pay what I can and produce a current bank statement.
yes, being overwhelmed, that offer was tempting.
thank you for responding... ((hug))
What if they sign off on her to get services not covered or have her runup a big bill at the beauty salon or go out on extra fee events....if yours is a filial responsibility state (about half are) then you as her child can be held responsible for payment. DPOA can do quite a lot....they can change her existing will by a codicil; they can move her to another facility (their DPOA is going to trump your medical one). Also if you should ever want to change & move mom to another facility you can't as they are now in charge of all things mom.
You've done all the hard work to get the medicaid application done so from here on out its all downhill in finding and doing paperwork. I'd bet your overwhelmed by all this and plus it's hard seeing your mom age & decline especially with all this Happy Holidays that December has become. Mom named you as her DPOA not some stranger at Friendly Arms Nusing Home. Mom entrusted you because she knows that you will be there & do what's best.
The director said that they would then do all the paperwork for future medical bills, prescription coverage, medicaid , medicare, recertifications... her income will be $800.00...
Thinking about it more... what does me having poa mean in the future besides this paperwork?
I have health POA on her separately.
They did mention turning over POA to them to take care of everything as far as this filing thing,and it sure sounded good to me... I would just have to produce sales slips for reimbursement when I bought her stuff.
How do I deal with emptying out her account and her next paycheck being over $1,500.00 and filing inbetween that time?? crazy.
Yeah it's a total butt rash but consider that there is no other way to pay for care that is going to run 100K+ annually. Plus Boudreaux's Butt Paste works well.
Also find out if your state does an annual recertification......if so, a lot of the 4" stack of paper is going to have to be resubmitted each year. Really truly. For my mom in TX, the renewal was a multi page form and required (once again!!) her preneed funeral documentation, her insurance info, etc. So keep everything at the ready in a binder to get the renewal done with less stress. Put her annual awards letters (the letters from SSA and retirement that come in Nov & Dec that state what the next years income will pay) in the binder too.
Also I'd suggest you clearly speak with billing at the NH that mom is going to be filing for medicaid and will be Medicaid Pending during the review so no billing snafus. Decide how you want to deal with the "personal needs allowance" and let the NH know. Most want all income sent to facility & they do a PNA trust at the NH...but you do NOT have to do it this way. My mom kept her income direct deposit to her checking account and I wrote a check to the NH each month for the required by medicaid co-pay amount. So moms banking account grew each month by the $ 60 PNA that TX allows. Make it what works best for you. Good luck & keep a sense of humor going.