Questions about senior citizens and assisted living.

[freemay20]

My mother-in-law resides in Alabama. She has been told that if she were to have to go to assisted living, the State would seize all of her assets and use them to pay the expenses incurred at the facility. She is wondering if she needs to disperse her assets prior to that happening. I have no clue how things work in Alabama and would greatly appreciate any insight any of you could give me. She is scared to death that she will lose her assets to the State if she does not do something prior to that time coming (that is if she ever has to go to a facility). I let her know we would take care of her and she always has a place, but we all know how some people feel about their independence and kudos to them for that.

I look forward to the responses and thank everyone in advance.

[spartan61]

1. I'm not sure about Alabama, but

in Maine there is a five year look back. It used to be a three year look back. That means the state goes through all of the family member's finances and if it looks like he/she has given her assets away in the past 5 years, the state will not pay for her care. I'm sure most states have the same kind of laws as Maine.

[alfie]

2. There are exceptions

so you need to check to see what. I'm in Ga and they have a similar provision. State is mainly saying, pay what you can yourself before you ask the state to pay for it (through Medicaid). In Ga, they don't require a spouse to sell their home if the other spouse must go into a nursing home.

[DURHAM D]

3. I see that you posted this in "Disability"

You might get better response in the Seniors Group -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1183

[freemay20]

5. I had not seen the Senior section prior to posting. Posted in Sr also, TY

[alfie]

4. Oh, one other thing

If she needs temporary care, ie rehab after a hip replacement in a nursing home, that would fall under Skilled Nursing Care and is covered by Medicare for up to 120 days. They would not expect her to pay more than the normal co-pay, deductibles, etc and they would not seize assets.

[Bennyboy]

6. Look into the look back there..... But, no matter what

have her get rid of her assets today. Not trusts, not inheritances, none of that, gift it. My Mom died in june (In CA) and they are already after her estate after being on MediCal... And because I told her how it was going to happen (and for once she listened to me) and how she protected her assets, the money she saved ( A pittance really) was mine free and clear because she gifted it to her relatives.

If the Gov't (local and state) pay for your care they want to be paid for the money they spent. And assisted living is very very expensive and it is more likely that ehy have a program that keeps her in the home with a care giver than paying for assisted living. So have her get rid of it. All of it.

[1KansasDem]

7. It's going to vary from state to state.

In Kansas there is a 5 year lookback. If you spend your assets for a few months (until they're gone) you will be grandfathered in to most of the nicer homes. If you show up broke most of the nicer homes won't take Medicaid as payment. Careful about that "gifting assets". You can put your loved one in a nearly impossible situation.

[happyslug]

9. I hate to correct you, no it will not.

Assisted housing for Senior Citizens is funded by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (WIth some money from the states, but not much and mostly in the form of paying the State 50% share of any welfare costs NOT covered by other Federal Grants). Now each state runs they own program and that provides some differences, but the big rules, such as the five year look back period, are Congressional mandates.

[happyslug]

8. This is a FEDERAL mandate, so it is in every state

Most of the cost of assisted living is paid with Welfare. You must use all of your assets up, become eligible for welfare and then welfare picks up the tab from that point forward. Welfare is a 50-50 Federal-State program, with the state matching funds from the Federal Government (at least technically, Congress ends up paying for most of the costs by providing additional funding for the states). Now every state in the Union can opt out of the Federal system and fund they own system, but none have, all states want the Federal Money to pay for these programs and thus follow whatever Congress has set for this program. Thus assisted care programs are technically State Programs, but subject to Federal Rules for those rules come with the Federal Funds and no state wants to run their system without those Federal Funds.

Now, she can AVOID having to pay these fees via two huge options, first give her property away to someone else and do NOT go into assisted living for Five years. Congress has said if someone gives property away within five years of going into an assisted care home, that home can undo that transfer and use that asset to pay for the cost of the assisted care.

The other option is if she has a spouse, they are restrictions on what the home can do when a spouse of someone in a assisted living home still lives in the family home.

There are other ways to get around this CONGRESSIONAL MANDATE, but these are the two big ones. This is all driven by a desire to minimize costs to the Federal Government.