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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/20/2008 6:44:34 PM
Posts: 4,
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| Father in Nursing Home in NC. I live in Louisiana. Have had to travel several times to NC to handle legal affairs,, close Dad's home and move all items,look for nursing home, get father settled in nursing home etc. The trip was definitely not for vacation purposes and was strictly to take care of father's care. Can plane tickets, hotel expenses, car rental and gas expenditures while in NC meet the spend down requirements. Medicaid office tells me no, but the nursing home told me that I should keep all receipts etc and that these could be used in spend down. Is there any legal rule that I could show to the Medicaid office so that these items will be covered. I would prefer not to have to pay these items out of pocket. Legally do I have any recourse here? Also, Dad has 3 whole life insurance policies totaling face value of ~15,000 and cash value of close to same. My understanding in NC,is that if the TOTAL value is over $10,000 the life insurance policies are not exempt and must be cashed in to pay for nursing home care prior to Medicaid eligibility. Would it be possible to cash two of the policies in to coer the care. The remaining policty would be worth less than $10,000 and then would it be considered exempt. I guess I am just trying to protect some of those life insruance benefits. It is such a shame that these must be paid to a nursing home.
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Forum Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 6/23/2008 1:27:21 PM
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| I assume you have your father's POA. And you should have something in writing between you and your father to make clear that you expect your costs associated with taking care of his business to be reimbursed. And a management/POA fee of some type is not at all out of line. And of course you need documentation of your expenses and receipts, mileage logs, etc. Once you have everything in order you need to receive payment from your father for your services, time, etc. The next step is to challenge the caseworker in the Medicaid office to show you something in writing that states your father's payment(s) to you in not allowable. Federal material states that family members may be legitimately paid for their services. And the only criteria for allowable expenditures is that the individual receive fair market value in goods and/or services for their money. You may need to go past the caseworker and ask a supervisor about "allowable" or "nonallowable" expenditures. I work in KY and your statements about NC policy regarding life insurance policies is not anything I have ever heard about before. To be sure, the cash value (CSV) represents available and countable resources. But there are, at least here in KY, numerous options. An individual may borrow some or all of the CSV and spend it thereby reducing countable resources and not pay back the loan. When it is time for the company to pay off on the policy, the outstanding loan amount and interest will be deducted. Alternatively, if the individual does not have funeral arrangements KY allows the individual to irrevocably assign ownership of the policy(s) to a funeral home and then there is no CSV available to count. I hope this info helps. Joe Whitehouse, Louisville, KY.
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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/20/2008 6:44:34 PM
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| Thank you so much for your responses. Is there a lawyer on forum from NC that I can either speak with or post to as well? I do have my father's POA. Will that suffice for a document indicating that the funds will be reimbursed. How I have handled this to date is just used Dad's debit card for plane fare, etc and kept documentation and receipts. Since Dad has essentially paid the money to me as we went along, how do I handle the legal document now (after the fact) Do I need to reimburse all the money back, do a document, and then have Dad reissue me a check? Not sure what to do here. With the insurance polices. Can Dad just cash in two of the policies to dgive a couple more months of nursing home care/pay for medical bills--then can the other policy (since under $10,000) be kept? Thanks again for your help. I did know about the funeral home but unfortunately we had already set all that up with an irrevocable account with the funeral home. JANB
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Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 7/6/2008 4:07:14 AM
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| JANB, there does not seem to be anyone at all answering posts on the North Carolina forum, under the old forums they had a wonderful attorney by the name of Bob Mason, he was quick to answer and always so kind. On this new format no one seems to answer on North Carolina at all. What a loss
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