I always thought that it went straight to the home but I’m not so sure now. My MIL has been in a Medicaid nursing home since October 2020. She had very little assets which were used to set up a funeral trust. Today I got shocked when I received the bank statement and saw that an account was on our statement in the names of my MIL, BIL and my husband. My husband and I have quite a few joint accounts at this bank and I never noticed this account. I’m sure my husband doesn’t even know it’s there but I’m asking here first before I approach him. It was a back page that I just never noticed. Anyway I see a deposit from SS for $731.00 and then checks galore for all different amounts. One check has a note that reads “Withdrawal from JC Penney” “Withdrawal from Loews” “Withdrawal from Medi 5803” and then just a bunch of what appears to be checks cashed against the account. Balance of account is almost $4K. My BIL is the one running the account since my MIL was staying with him before she went into the NH.
Back story my BIL and SIL are train wrecks in the financial area other areas too but I’m only concerned with the financial aspect since it could effect us. OK so would anyone know why someone would still be getting electronic deposits if their LO is in a NH? Also isn’t the balance of almost four thousand dollars a loaded gun so to speak? I am beside myself with this ... really so I appreciate any input someone may have. TIA
I wrote the check to nursing home.
Check with nursing home see how they have it set up & check with her Medi-caid social worker. I would investigate why all the names on bank account and who is making withdrawals & payments. If the withdrawals are being done by someone on bank account probably not much you can do, but thats not good. It will affect her if nursing home is not getting paid. Need to investigate.
No one has to allow a nursing access to anyone's bank account. It's the right of the nursing home resident and their POA or conservator to not allow this. People have a right to insist on a written bill every month that they then pay for if the person is on cash pay.
What's happening here is that the nursing home is not being paid the demanded amount from your MIL's account. Before you take any action speak to a Medicare representative and her Medicaid caseworker first. If you don't know who her Medicaid caseworker is, demand the nursing home tell you. She has one because the nursing home she's in started her Medicaid application the day she arrived. What could be happening is Medicare is covering some of her days. A person gets up to 100 days a year, every year, paid for by Medicare if they need skilled nursing. Was your MIL in the hospital recently? Did the nursing home upgrade her level of care? They very well might have. What happens here, is the nursing home will take the money from Medicare (if they're paying) and also demand it in cash from a person's bank account.
So it could be that they aren't owed that money.
Please speak with Medicare and her Medicaid caseworker.
We live in MN. I did the Medicaid app for my MIL. Her SS checks are auto deposited directly into her one and only bank account. Then the nursing home takes the withdrawal automatically to pay for her LTC. But the NH still sends us an itemized invoice monthly. It's probably different by state because that's how Medicaid is run, by state. FYI we had to reapply for MIL's Medicaid the 2nd year as well on the same anniversary as her first application, so someone in your family needs to figure out what's going on so she doesn't lose her qualification and someone needs to call the NH to find out if they're owed money.