What to do with husband's whole life insurance policy?

Only the cash value is counted when you apply for Medicaid, so consider borrowing against the cash value to reduce its value, or simply have him assign ownership to you (where it can be part of your exempt assets of $119, 220). To answer your question, yes, you can safely wait until after the application and then have him transfer it to you as part of your CSRA.

Nana - for couples the whole Medicaid eligibility is quite different in that only your hubs has to be impoverished not you as you will be considered the "community spouse". The CS is allowed to keep assets - around 117K and your income is not counted. Also if you are dependent on his income, you can get CSRA or MMNA - community souse resource allowance or monthly maintenance needs assessment - I think of it as kinda like alimony for the NH set. The sates each set their CSRA / MMNA amount, like for TX its right under $ 2,900.00 a mo. You want CSRA and do whatever to get the max imho. Really CS situations, it's lots more involved than just the above type of items……like if you are like most couples your life insurance policies have each other as beneficiary & a bad idea if say you predecease him so hubs gets your insurance $ and it takes him over the Medicaid asset limit, what then & who will be doing his re-eligibility and spend-down as you are gone??

really for coupls where you as the CS is likely to be on your own for years & years, getting options as to how to keep as much $ as possible is central. I'd suggest you get a NAELA certified atty to work with and you need to do this before you ever submit the Medicaid application. For couples the states seem to do a "snapshot day" in which you assets are fixed. So if you need to pay off a mortgage, or get a major expense done, or turn in both cars and get 1 newer & more dependable car, perhaps do a SPIA for those excess assets, perhaps change the ownership of his life insurance policy to one of you or a special needs trust for extra things for his care….well all this needs to be done and cleared through your bank before the application & snapshot is done. Comprende?

For couples, its just more complex and then add atop this is that you are rightly focused on his care. You can't do it all or know it all, & a good atty will be priceless in coming up with options and getting them done.

Also about the 2 cars….Medicaid allows for only 1 car. Often folks give the older car to their kids or grandkids….bad idea as that is considered gifting and has a transfer penalty placed.

Thank you so much for the response. Lots of info there. Am going to check with an Elder Law to make sure I don't do anything that's gonna effect the future. Thanks again!!

Great answer Igloo! I really appreciate when people who are knowledgable go into detail like this to answer questions. One concern I have it that there are no elder attorneys in my area, the nearest is hundreds of miles away and the one Mom found for herself in Minnesota in the yellow pages turned out to be very much not OK.

Great explanation Igloo.

Mr Heiser, thank you so much for your response. All of this can be so confusing, and I don't want to do something that will keep him receiving the care that he needs if it comes to that in the future. Again, thank you!!

"from receiving care"

I have been told that once my mother is under hospice care I need to switch her over to Medicare and get rid of her HMO insurance company that is currently ver seeing her medical bills. The dr said to be sure that she has the Medicare coverage first before canceling the HMO. Please someone explain this...I don't understand the difference between the two coverages.

bls0901, before you do this, see if the HMO covers hospice care. If mom has a medicare supplement policy with the HMO, the hospice care should be covered. READ the policy, TALK to the insurance company .

IF the face value of the insurance is MORE than the cash value, you buy it from him for $2000. I would.