Financial Care for Life > Medicaid and Nursing Home Care

Medicaid and Nursing Home Care

As you enter your 60s and 70s, health may become more of an issue than it once was, and your thoughts may turn to the future. Who will take care of you when you can no longer care for yourself? If you must enter a nursing home, how will you pay for it? By learning as much as you can about Medicaid right now and planning appropriately, you may be able to resolve these issues and create a more secure future.

Nursing homes provide different levels of long-term care

You may need to enter a nursing home if you become physically or mentally incapacitated and can no longer care for yourself properly. If the services of an in-home caregiver are inadequate or unavailable, or if you require around-the-clock care, entry into a nursing home on a long-term basis may be your only option.
A nursing home is a state-licensed facility that may provide skilled nursing care, intermediate care, and/or custodial care.

  • Skilled care: This around-the-clock care, ordered by a physician and performed by skilled medical personnel, is designed to treat a medical condition.
  • Intermediate care: This involves occasional nursing and rehabilitative care provided by registered nurses and certain other medical personnel under the supervision of a physician.
  • Custodial care: This type of care is designed to help you perform the activities of daily living (e.g., bathing, eating, dressing). It can be provided by someone without professional medical skills but is supervised by a physician.

Medicaid can help you pay for nursing home care

Medicare (Part A), Medigap insurance, and Medicaid can each provide some assistance in paying for long-term care. However, Medicare and Medigap provide only short-term coverage for skilled care at nursing homes; only a certain number of days per year are covered. Also, they do not provide coverage for intermediate and custodial care in nursing homes.

In contrast, Medicaid (in most states) will pay for skilled care and intermediate care in nursing homes, and for custodial care at home. The bottom line is that most nursing home residents are left with only three alternatives for paying their nursing home bills: Medicaid, their own assets (e.g., cash, investments), and long-term care insurance (LTCI).

Although an LTCI policy may be an ideal solution, you may not be able to purchase such a policy later in life if you're uninsurable for health reasons, or if you find the premiums too high. If you don't want to spend your life savings on nursing home bills and can't afford LTCI premiums, qualifying for Medicaid may be your best bet. With proper planning, you may be able to qualify for Medicaid, protect your healthy spouse (if you have one), and even leave some assets to your loved ones after you're gone.

You must satisfy several requirements to qualify for Medicaid

Medicaid is a joint federal-state program that provides medical assistance to various low-income people, including those who are aged (i.e., 65 or older), disabled, or blind. It can pay for a number of costs, including hospital bills, physician services, and long-term care. Medicaid is the single largest payer of nursing home bills in America and is the last resort for people who have no other way to finance their long-term care. Although the eligibility rules vary from state to state, federal minimum standards and guidelines must be observed.

In addition to you meeting your state's medical and functional criteria for nursing home care, your assets and monthly income must each fall below certain limits if you are to qualify for Medicaid. However, several assets (which may include your family home) and a certain amount of income may be exempt or not counted.

Although many people are ineligible for Medicaid when they first enter a nursing home, several states allow elders to enter and then spend down their income and assets on nursing home bills to become eligible. This can be a great advantage. On the downside, though, you may have to kiss your life savings good-bye.

That's where Medicaid planning comes in. In determining your eligibility for Medicaid, a state may count only the income and assets that are legally available to you for paying bills. You can make assets unavailable by giving them away or by holding them in certain trusts. However, in some cases, such transfers may create a period of ineligibility before you can collect Medicaid. So, to engage in proper Medicaid planning, you should consult an experienced elder law attorney.

Choosing the right nursing home takes research

Because nursing homes have long waiting lists, you should research the nursing homes in your area before an emergency arises. If you plan on using Medicaid to pay for your nursing home care, make sure that the facility you select accepts Medicaid--not all nursing homes do. Many others restrict the number of Medicaid "beds" in the nursing home (some states, however, prohibit this). Also, be aware that if Medicaid will be paying for your nursing home care, you will not be entitled to a private room.

You should consider several factors when choosing a nursing home. These include:

  • Level of medical care: Some homes provide mainly custodial care. If you think that you may need skilled nursing care in the future, don't choose a home that offers only custodial care.
  • Cost of care: You will pay less at some facilities than at others. Compare the cost of each facility with the quality of care and the services provided.
  • Recreational opportunities: Consider whether the nursing home organizes outside or in-house recreational activities for its residents.
  • Appearance of grounds and facilities: The nursing home should be clean and well maintained. A bad smell is one sign of a poor-quality nursing home.
  • Resident/staff ratio and interaction: Determine if the resident/staff ratio meets or exceeds state and federal requirements. Also, notice how staff members treat residents.

When you find a nursing home that you like, you should find out if a bed will be available for you, or if you can add your name to a waiting list. And remember, Medicaid planning should be done well before the need for a nursing home arises.

For more information on how to evaluate a nursing home, contact your state department of elder services.

Prepared by Broadridge Advisor Solutions

The information presented here is not specific to any individual's personal circumstances.
To the extent that this material concerns tax matters, it is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by a taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed by law. Each taxpayer should seek independent advice from a tax professional based on his or her individual circumstances.
These materials are provided for general information and educational purposes based upon publicly available information from sources believed to be reliable — we cannot assure the accuracy or completeness of these materials. The information in these materials may change at any time and without notice.

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