Medicaid Planning Strategies

A new report finds that states have made incremental improvements in providing long-term care, but need to achieve more gains in order to meet the needs of the growing number of people who require long-term care services.  ...

Immediate annuities can be a useful tool to protect the spouse of a nursing home resident who applies for Medicaid. Annuities allow the nursing home resident to spend down assets and give a spouse guaranteed income.

In recent years a number of non-lawyers have started businesses offering Medicaid planning services to seniors. While using one of these services may be cheaper than hiring a lawyer, the overall costs may be far greater.

Medicaid 101

Planning for retirement and deciding whether to buy long-term care insurance would be a lot easier if you knew your odds of needing long-term care, as well as at what age and for how long.

Annuities can be valuable retirement and longevity planning tools, but they are complex financial products that can be misused. There are two kinds of annuities: deferred and immediate. Learn how they work.

A federal appeals court has ruled that Medicaid officials must accept applicants' short-term annuities, providing more certainty for Medicaid applicants' use of this important planning tool. ...

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling on marriage equality means that gay couples living in states that previously did not recognize their marriage will now be covered by Medicaid’s spousal impoverishment protections and asset transfer rules.  ...

When hiring a caregiver, it is important to put the contract in writing, especially if they're a relative. If you don't it can affect your Medicaid benefits. We explain the risks of failing to have a formal agreement.

In some states (called "income cap" states), Medicaid applicants who have excess income can qualify for Medicaid only if they put the excess in a special trust, called a "Miller" trust or a "Qualified Income Trust.

Medicaid 101