Medicaid And Long Term Care

Like the income rules, in addition to the resources limits for general Medicaid eligibility, special rules relate to institutionalization for custodial care that allow patients to keep more of their assets than they would otherwise be able to keep.

Most states limit assets to the Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") amount, which is $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a married couple. See Medicaid. 

All the assets that are exempt under regular Medicaid are also exempt under the Medicaid custodial care rules. One difference to note:  If you go into a nursing home, in some states, your home will not be considered to be a countable asset for purposes of Medicaid eligibility as long as you intend to return home. In other states, a nursing home resident must prove a likelihood of returning home. In all states, there is no equity limit if the Medicaid applicant's spouse or another dependent relative lives there.

In addition, there are two rules which particularly apply to qualifying for custodial care in a nursing home:

• Spousal Impoverishment: The healthy spouse is allowed to keep up to 50% of the non-exempt assets, subject to a minimum and a maximum. To learn more, see: Medicaid: Eligibility: Spousal Impoverishment Rules.
• Transfer of Assets: Another means of qualifying for Medicaid custodial care is to transfer your assets to someone else. To learn more, see  Medicaid: Eligibility: Transfer of Assets. If you're considering transferring assets to qualify, note the provisions concerning the "look back" period and penalties for transfers which occur during that period of time. They recently changed.

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