Paying for Nursing Home Care (Medicaid)

As you consider how to pay for long term care, here’s what is critical to keep in mind:

Before you transfer any property, or give away any assets, make sure that you have a good solid roadmap that will guide you through the mess that is Medicaid (and when applicable VA benefits) so that you can make the right decisions for your family without making mistakes that can cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Concerned About How To Pay For Long Term Care in 2019? Start Here.

Are You Struggling To Figure Out How To Pay For Long Term Care For A Loved One In A Nursing Home?

long term careWe often think that Alabama Medicaid is the only way to pay for nursing home for our spouse or parent.

However, Medicaid is simply one solution among a number of solutions.

To properly determine how to pay for nursing home care, we have to look at the risk and then all of the options before we can adopt a … (Read more)


“Doesn’t Medicaid allow me to give away $14,000 a year tax free?”

“Doesn’t Medicaid allow me to give away $14,000 a year tax free?”

"Doesn't Medicaid allow me to give away $14,000 a year tax free?"No — the $14,000 a year is what the IRS says you can give away without having to file a “gift tax return” so the gift of $14,000 a year doesn’t, in effect, count against your lifetime limit of over $5,000,000 that you can give away or leave as an inheritance.

But.

This has nothing to do with the rules Alabama Medicaid has on gifts.

What’s the big

(Read more)


“Will our prenup agreement protect my assets when my husband goes into the nursing home?”

No — generally Alabama Medicaid does not care if the asset is in your name or your husband’s name.  Or if you have a prenup (pre-nuptial) agreement that tells how the assets are to be kept or divided.

Medicaid simply looks at everything you and your husband has — regardless of who actually owns it — and Medicaid combines all of those assets into a pile.  (There are several things that do not count — your house (usually), a car, … (Read more)


“Is the look back period the same as the penalty period under Alabama Medicaid?”

No — the look back period under Alabama Medicaid is 5 years and the penalty period (if gifts were made during the 5 years) can be more or less than 5 years.  This is an area that confuses many so let’s understand this together and work through some examples.

Under Alabama Medicaid (and every other state I know of), if you qualify for Medicaid and apply for Medicaid, then Medicaid “looks back” in time 5 years (60 months).

Why is (Read more)


“Should I wait till my spouse is in a facility before doing Medicaid planning?”

Providing long term careNo.  You should do Alabama Medicaid planning as soon as possible as we must follow the rules that Alabama Medicaid lays out for us.  If you wait till the crisis happens — your husband or wife goes into the nursing home — then we can still preserve much of your assets, but it is better if we can do the planning before the crisis hits.  To be blunt, we can save a lot more of your assets if we start … (Read more)


What is “asset protection” and why it applies to more than just the super wealthy

Defenition of risk“Asset protection” is for almost everyone, regardless of your age or financial condition.  While this is a phrase that often makes us think of:

  • Super wealthy
  • Hiding assets
  • Doing something wrong

While sometimes those thoughts are correct, they are not what my financial protection firm means when we use the expression “asset protection.”  Let me explain.

Asset protection simply means protecting your assets from creditors and predators who have no right to your assets.

This includes protecting assets from being … (Read more)