Mysterious Social Security deposit sends Mom's account over the Medicaid limit... What to do?

Issue RESOLVED! Thanks for your answers Countrymouse and MarSoCal. I was finally able to get some answers on this mysterious deposit and MarSoCal you are correct.
It is what they call state buy in... Apparently once someone is accepted into Medicaid they are reimbursed for the months they paid for Medicare thru deductions from a SSI check. It was retroactive 3 months in our case.

Why is this process so frustrating? How hard would it be for someone to give you a brochure or a website to go to with accurate information on filing for Medicaid, what is the process and what you can expect to happen when??? I guess they don’t want it to be easy, right?

If someone goes over the "Medicaid" amount they have either 30 or 60 days to spend the amount down without it affecting their Medicaid status.

When I was an Ombudsman I got a call from a family who had their mom in a nursing home. They told me that the home took the residents to the casino for an activity. Their mom won $5000 and was on Medicaid. They were in a panic thinking she was going to be kicked off Medicaid. I assured them that all they had to do was spend down the amount within the 30 or 60 days and she would be fine.

Just an FYI to anyone following this thread. I am the OP and I did receive a letter from SSI today stating the money would be deposited... as it was for over payment of Medicare once she was approved for Medicaid it was retroactive 3 months back in which she had paid Medicare out of her SSI checks.
Yes planning on buying her some new clothes and shoes can’t really think of anything else she needs or wants.
Good to know you have 30 days to spend down if she goes over it is so unnerving worrying about this every month!
Thanks again everyone!

When SSI is approved, they pay for months since the application was started. When my brother started his application it took seven months before he was officially on SSI. He received one current month payment and some but not all of the back pay. A letter was sent later explaining the payment and back payment with the balance of back pay to be paid 6 months later. You will not be in trouble for getting more than $2,000, just if you do not spend it. You cannot "save" more than $2,000, so just use it.

I agree Kathy.

Now, if that happened with my Mom, her NH was her payee so that money, if she was reimbursed, went to them and I was not made aware. Be aware that her Personal needs acct will effect the 2k too. You need to spend the money before the next Medicaid eval. on her.

I asked DHHS this question in person and the lady said “just spend it down on something for your Mom like clothes, toiletries, etc and keep receipts”. I have been where you are and it can get so unnerving on that spend down requirement. They audited me and so does Social Security to make sure Mom was getting what she needed. Keep records/receipts/bank statements.

How annoying and frustrating and worrying!

Take pad, pen, and a printout of her recent account history, highlight the reference numbers, then get on the phone. Write down names, reference numbers and all similar details every time you get put through to another person or you will lose your way.

Once you have tracked down where the deposit came from, you will know if it is an error and the money must be simply repaid, or an overlooked payment that was in fact due to her for some reason.

And once you know that, you'll know what you need to explain to Medicaid so that they don't send you back to square one.

If the money appears on her bank account record but not on her SSI record, it sounds like an error. They'll probably be getting mirror calls at the same time demanding to know where the other person's money is!

It could be a one time payment for underpayment for the last year. My husband and I both got one. She should have gotten a letter about it.

We never had to use medicaid but we did have a mysterious deposit appear in our credit union savings account once. This happened after several attempts to hack into our account. So the paranoid old fart that I am, rushed to the credit union to inquire. It could not be immediately explained. But it did start an investigation by them to find out what was going on.
Turns out that a merchant on the east coast had some how pushed the wrong buttons on a bank coin machine that would make deposits to his business account and we got his money.
What had caused me alarm turned into a good laugh. That was more than five years ago and to this day the account rep remember it we still have a good laugh about it.
I don't think you can be too careful. some hacker have been know to make small deposit to see if they have successfully hacked into an account so they can then empty it.
Several good answers here. I don't need medicaid but the info is still great.
Thanks all.

Call SSI or write a letter. Don’t panic about the $300 overage. If govt hasn’t asked for it back in next couple weeks just withdraw that $ for now and set aside till you know if she has to give it back. An overage that small & for reason stated should cause no penalty as long as it is ‘spent’ in month received.