| Frequently Asked Questions about Medicaid in Texas |
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Q: Is what you do legal ? A: That’s a great question and we get it all the time. The answer is simple … Yes, what we do is legal. Q: If what you do is legal, why doesn’t Medicaid tell us about these rules when we call them? A: Another great question !! However, I don’t know the answer to that one. I have called several different offices of Texas Dept. of Human Services (Medicaid), and have received several different answers to the identical question. Q: My mother is in a Nursing Home and was denied Medicaid Benefits because my parents have about $250,000 in cash and stocks. Can you help us? A: YES !! We can help you and your family keep ALL their money and still qualify your Mother for Medicaid Benefits. Q: My parents have about $127,350 left in cash, and two rent houses in addition to the house my mother lives in. We are spending about $4,950 a month on my Daddy’s care in a Nursing Home, and pretty soon my Mother will be broke. I called our family attorney for help, and he said the only thing my parents can do, is to sell the rent houses, and then ‘spend down to the poverty level’ to get my Daddy on Medicaid. How can you help us if he couldn’t? A: Because we know the Medicaid rules and he probably doesn’t !! This is where it gets ‘interesting’ !! I have helped numerous families qualify for Medicaid benefits, even after their family attorney said there was nothing to do except ‘spend down’. My first question is: What type of law does your family attorney practice ? If he or she practices tax litigation, I’m sure he/she is great at that. Attorneys are like doctors in the sense that their world is very complex and getting more complex every day. If I had a heart attack, I would go see a Cardiologist …. not my General Practitioner. If I had a legal problem with a property boundary, I would go see an attorney who specializes in Real Estate law. There are wonderful, Elder Law attorneys in Texas, and we use some of them when we need their advice. If you feel you need an Elder Law attorney, I will be happy to refer you to several we have used in the past. Q: How do you know so much about Medicaid when my insurance agent simply said, "you have too much money to qualify for Medicaid" ? A: If you focus on one or two things, you will know them very well! I only work with families doing Medicaid planning and Reverse Mortgages. I do not sell life insurance, auto or boat insurance. Q: How long will it take to get my husband qualified for Medicaid benefits in a Nursing Home? A: That’s a pretty general question and I don’t know your specifics. A lot depends on your type of assets, such as cash, stocks, bonds, land, rental property, etc.. It also depends on how fast you can get your financial records together. Generally, once your family and I have come up with a plan that is agreeable to all and acceptable to Medicaid, your husband should qualify within one or two months. Sometimes sooner, sometimes longer. But one to two months is the average. Often, we will come up with a plan that will qualify a person for Medicaid benefits, but their kids all want to ‘think it over’ and vote on it. I am always happy to meet with your children, other family members or your pastor. Most families set a time limit by which they want to accomplish this task. I have found that if families don’t set a time limit, before they know it, they have spent down !! Not intentionally, they just thought about it so long that they had cashed in their CD’s, sold their stock and liquidated all their holdings to continue paying the Nursing Home or Assisted Living Home bills … and before they knew it … they were broke !! Q: I just heard that Texas will now take my home, to ‘re-pay’ the cost of my husband’s nursing home expenses paid by Medicaid. Is this true? A: You have some of the facts correct but not all. Both the Texas Legislature and the State Senate passed bills with Amendment 2292 that, gives TDHS the power to file a lien on your home when your husband goes on Medicaid. Without any planning, Medicaid MAY exercise their lien at the time of your death or your husband’s death, whichever is later. However, with proper Medicaid planning, we can preserve the value of your home for your children and grandchildren. Q: When my husband became ill, we moved from our 300 acre ranch into a small home closer to town. My husband is now in a nursing home and I am quickly spending our retirement savings on his care. We had planned on passing our ranch that has been in my husband’s family for over 100 years, on to our kids, but Medicaid says we can only keep ONE house. So we either have to sell our ranch or I have to sell our small home close to my husband’s nursing home. Then I’ll have to drive over 65 miles each way to see him. Can you help us? A: YES !! You can keep both of your homes and still qualify your husband for Medicaid !! Q: My husband has Alzheimer’s and needs to go to a nursing home. Over his 35 years employment with a major company, he has acquired over $140,000 of the company’s stock and now, Medicaid says we have too much money to qualify. Medicaid said we have to "spend down" our assets, including my husband’s stock. By the time we do that, then I’ll be broke too. Can you help us? A: YES !! You are very fortunate that your husband did such a great job of providing for your and your family. Now, you must conserve and protect what you have accumulated. Medicaid counts stock as an asset, and therefore, you do have too much money. However, all you have to do is convert the stock into a non-countable asset. And Bingo, your husband will qualify !! CALL US FOR MORE ANSWERS 972.784.8400 |