Elder Law Answers
Some Seniors Getting Sticker Shock When Moving From Hospital to Nursing Home
A growing number of Medicare recipients are spending days in the hospital before moving to a nursing home, only to find th...
Read moreWhen My Father Is Admitted to the Hospital, What Do I Do With Extra Money in His Nursing Home Account?
- May 11th, 2017
Q
My father is in a nursing home in Florida and receiving Medicaid. When he is admitted to the hospital, the nursing home doesn't deduct money from his account for the days he is not in the nursing home. What am I supposed to do with the additional money in his account? The nursing home typically takes $1,960 from his account monthly, and this month it deducted only $1,074 since he was in the hospital for part of the month.
A
This situation is not uncommon. It can become a problem if, at the end of the month, your father’s account exceeds the asset limit for Medicaid, which in many states is $2,000. This means you have to spend down the excess before the end of the month. You can do this by paying for anything your father may need or want, including: meals out or delivered in, stereo equipment, books on tape, companions who come to read to your father or take him on walks or outings, extra therapy or medical care – in short, anything that you can think of that is for your father. If your father has not prepaid for his funeral, you can enter into a contract with the funeral home and use the excess to begin paying the fee. In some states, you can make transfers to a (d)(4)(C) (“pooled”) trust, but for these small amounts it’s probably not worth the trouble. You could also ask the nursing home because they must run into this problem relatively often.
Local Elder Law Attorneys in Ashburn, VA
Meet Judith Mitnick
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Judith Mitnick
Needham Mitnick & Pollack, PLC
Judith Mtinick is well known for acting as a guardian, conservator, trustee or agent on behalf of clients or by court appointment. This experience gives her a wide perspective and extensive practical knowledge that she uses when advising clients in drafting their planning documents. Her experience, as a court appointed...
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John Laster
Law Offices of John L. Laster
John Laster is a lawyer licensed to practice in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia. He limits his practice to wealth transfer planning, trusts, wills, powers of attorney, health care decision-making issues, estate administration and related tax, elder law and disability concerns. Listed in The Best Lawyers...
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Meet Jean Ball
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Jean Ball
Hale Ball Carlson Baumgartner Murphy PLC
Jean Galloway Ball is certified in Elder Law by the National Elder Law Foundation. She is a 1977 honors graduate of the National Law Center, George Washington University, and she did her undergraduate work at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1971. She is admitted to practice in Vir...
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