How to Provide for a Disabled Relative Without Putting Medical Benefits at Risk
By Barry Zimmer on May 17th, 2018 in Medicaid
Medicaid attorneys provide you with invaluable help in making sure that you or your loved ones are able to get the care that you or your family needs. Medicaid provides coverage in many situations where it is not possible for the individual who is covered to get other insurance or where it is not possible for the covered individual to afford the costs of care out of pocket.
Unfortunately, there are strict rules for Medicaid qualification and if you make the wrong decisions in regards to your assets, you may not get approved for benefits or eligibility for benefits could be lost.
Zimmer Law Firm offers assistance to seniors who will need Medicaid to cover the costs of their nursing home care, as there is a way for seniors to take steps to protect the assets they own so their wealth does not count as financial resources that cause them to be disqualified from Medicaid coverage.
Zimmer Law Firm can also provide invaluable help with making a Medicaid plan in other important situations, including when you wish to provide a disabled relative with an inheritance but you worry about the gift you provide affecting benefits eligibility.
To find out out more about how our Medicaid attorneys can help you to understand your options for providing for a disabled relative without putting medical benefits at risk, give us a call today.
Providing for a Disabled Relative While Protecting Benefits
When someone is seriously disabled, that individual may be unable to work. Without a job, obtaining employer-based health insurance coverage is impossible. Affording insurance on the private market may also be impossible without income coming in to pay premiums, co-pays and co-insurance. This is one big reason why Medicaid covers so many people with serious disabling conditions — it’s often the only feasible option to get covered.
The problem is, Medicaid is a government benefit’s program with very strict eligibility rules. Medicaid rules stipulate that only individuals or couples with limited assets could be eligible to obtain or maintain coverage. Those with incomes that are too high could potentially not be able to get certain types of Medicaid coverage, and those who own too many assets could also be disqualified from coverage as well.
Although your disabled relative would qualify for coverage if his or her income is low, the problem is that an inheritance you provide after your death or a gift you provide during your lifetime could push your loved one above the maximum asset limit. This could mean that the gift or inheritance you provided causes your disabled loved one to lose access to potentially life-saving Medicaid benefits.
Without Medicaid, a disabled person may have no coverage at all and no ability to get coverage. If this was the case and expensive medical care was necessary, the inheritance would likely be spent on medical care.
This could be avoided by working with an experienced attorney to make a Medicaid plan. A Medicaid plan to protect the benefits of your disabled relative would normally include the use of a special needs trust. This allows you to transfer an inheritance into a special trust that does not count for purposes of determining Medicaid eligibility. You’ll want to do this well in advance of the time that you hope to provide an inheritance or a gift, as it can take time to create and fund a trust.
Getting Help from Medicaid Attorneys
Medicaid attorneys at Zimmer Law Firm know how important it is for you to provide for all of your loved ones, including or especially your relatives who cannot fully care for themselves due to a serious disability. We can work closely with you to identify whether a gift or an inheritance you are considering providing could create a risk of losing benefits.
We can also help you to structure the gift or asset transfer in such a way that it does not cause benefits to be lost. Join us for a free seminar to discover more about all of the services our Medicaid planning attorneys provide.
To find out more about how our legal team can help you with the legal issues involved in providing an inheritance for a loved one with a disability, give us a call at 513-721-1513 today.