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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 11/24/2008 4:46:30 PM
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| My mother and I went to medicaid office to apply on Dads behalf, After giving the lady all the needed information she needed she informed mom that she would have to spend down assets. This she has been doing for the last two years at about $85,000. a year. The only thing that dad has in his name is a checking account, into which goes his social security check. My mom has a checking account, savings account, a CD, an IRA and a promissory note from stock she was forced to sell back to the company she worked for. This company made all retired employees sell their stock and issued them promissory notes. Mom gets about $2700 a quarter as interest payments and the balance of the note would be paid in 2012. Anyway the only names on moms accounts are hers and mine, the medicaid person has listed the accounts as belonging to Both, that would be dad and her. Can that be right? The medicaid person also included the promissory note as a resourse. How can she do that when it won't pay final till 2012? She is including the whold value of the note as far as i can see. Not a friendly person to say the least. waters7
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Forum Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 6/23/2008 1:27:21 PM
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| For someone to give you complete and detailed information, you would need to provide a lot more detail than what space on this forum allows for. However, I hope the following information will be helpful. At a Medicaid application for a nursing home spouse who has a community spouse, countable assets either spouse has access to are counted. And while the promissory note has value, Medicaid should only be counting the fair market value (what you could sell it for now) and not the entire unpaid amount as if you sold it now you would likely have to discount it to interest a buyer (I see this mistake all the time here in KY and you have to bring it to their attention and likely provide estimate(s) of what you could sell it for). Further, if your mom does have to spend down additional assets before your dad is resource eligible for Medicaid, she doesn't have to spend all of it down at the nursing home. She could prepay funerals for both of them, get a newer vehicle, remodel her kitchen and get new appliances, etc., etc. The only Medicaid criteria regarding her expenditures is that either she or your father receive fair market value in goods and/or services--meaning just about anything goes as long as she doesn't simply give the money away. And there are also some very narrow circumstances in which she might be able to make some gifts. If your mom is going to have to spend down a sizeable sum, she may wish to meet with a consultant or elder law attorney that does Medicaid planning in your state to review all the circumstances in detail and determine what options may be viable. Joe Whitehouse, Medicaid Consultant, Louisville, KY.
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