Received Mom's first bill from the NH. Her Medicaid application is pending and will likely go through soon. Do I pay the bill?

Medicaid usually is 'back' dated to cover the month the person entered the facility. Check with your local rep to inquire how long it will take for Medicaid approval.

By the way, after I told him I didn't have a bank account, we chatted on the phone for another 5 or 10 minutes .. I had him repeat his full name, & made a mistake repeating it back to him, so he corrected me .. he had my mother's name (which I didn't give him), & knew she had an account & knew I was the beneficiary. Told me all about the phishing call they got at their customer service dept. from the person claiming to be me. .. if this was a phishing call it was really sophisticated.

Thanks, Maggie. The caller IDd himself by name, from the fraud dept. saying someone had been phishing using my name. Told him right away that I didn't have an account with the bank. (My mother does.) He said, ok, then you have nothing to worry about. I see here you are a beneficiary for this account .. does your social security number end with xxxx .. I said yes. That's the only info I gave him. In any case, since I don't have an account, I'm not really worried. Told him I have no bank account anywhere, which is true.

Pam, great catch!! Lynne, hopefully you didn't give this caller any banking information. Account number...mom's maiden name...social security number. If so, you simply must go into the bank, talk to an officer, and immediately take steps to safeguard your accounts at ALL of your financial institutions.

Here's a poor summary of what happens. Crooks in caller boiler rooms make random calls introducing themselves, as an example, as an employee of Bank of America. "We're calling about your account with us." If don't HAVE an account with BOA, you'll say that, and the caller will hang up. But if you DO have one, you'll answer something like, "Yes, what can I do for you?"

Then they tell you about the suspected fraud, say they want to verify it's actually you -- they might ask for your social security number, your password, account number verification. You get the picture.

I hope you haven't fallen victim. I doubt seriously that the call you received was from your bank. Your falling victim is completely dependent on how much info you gave them.

Thanks, everyone!

I'm with Pam, call the customer service department at the bank and see if it was really the bank calling you.

The bill you got is for her share of the cost, right? So that would be all of her income minus the PNA amount. Send it to them, you are responsible as POA to hand that over.
The bank call you got sounds like a hoax, or phishing scam. Never give out information to an incoming call.