Most of his backpay is being used to set up his funeral costs and being put in a trust. He's only allowed 2k in his account but will have 6k after the funeral costs. He wants to give me 2k for taking care of him before he entered the nursing home. How can he do this? Is it allowed? How can he spend down 4k to keep his 2k limit?
Once you are on Medicaid any money you receive after that goes to his care.
6K isn’t all that much.... if he could use couple extra pr eyeglasses buy those. Ditto for new hearing aid. Extra easy care, wash & wear clothing. NH laundry is really super harsh on clothes as it’s high temp high heat. Extra shoes..... (my late mom loved those hideous SAS shoes & every few months another shoe (not the pair) flat went missing, stuff just walks in NH, really I should have bought several pairs & stored them). He’ll essentially needs a whole new wardrobe every now & then, if you have a place to store all - like you set up a closet with shelves just for him- buy stuff now & store. Ditto on toiletries. If he likes to read, he could order magazine subscriptions. Or buy large print books. If this were more normal times, I’d suggest dental work as that could easily be 6k.
Regarding funeral, please make sure ALL costs that can be pre-paid is getting paid now. Usually funeral home preneed do not cover everything..... like floral, headstones, grave opening or maintenance, minister or priest costs / donation, organist, submission of obit in newspapers (this can be shockingly expensive too), police escort. If he’s getting buried in VA cemetery some of these costs are included but try to find out now & prepay whatever you can.
has anyone explained the difference between income & assets and what the VA personal allowance is and what the Medicaid personal allowance is? I’m guessing not so here’s my take.... the most important is month he gets the VA$ and VA$ is deposited into his bank account, for that month it is considered “income”. Medicaid has strict income limits, and expects his monthly income to basically be paid to the NH as his copay except for small PNA aka Personal Needs Allowance. PNA varies by state, most $50 or $60 mo. He has income that preexisted before VA $ and that remains unchanged as to what happens with it & paid as copay. BUT new VA $ adds into his income, so he has to spend it ASAP within month received because the month after becomes an “asset” which has a 2k max for in facility LTC NH Medicaid. He needs to start the month within income limits AND end the month within income limits. Ditto for asset limits. So you must move the $ / purchases thru. If not he can become ineligible for Medicaid. Often family / DPOA end up buying a piece of large equipment, like a wheelchair or high end walker to get $ spent. If you find that’s the case, ask SW as to what equipment he might could buy. He has to end his month the $ came in within Medicaid income & asset limits.
if he’s VA, VA has its own separate PNA. $90 a month. So if he was in TX, they have regular PNA at $60 and then VA PNA at $90. So he will have $150 a month “extra to spend” $. If dad does not have his bank account as POD (pay on death) to you, if possible get that done. Accounts that are POD bypass probate for distribution so it cannot be part of his estate. If he dies with say $1800 in the bank, that’s your $1800. Something always crops up to have to pay for, so it will be kinda nice to have the $ easily to be able to use if need be.
also states do renewals. Documents submitted include several months of bank statements, so he has to show he starts & ends each mo within limits. If that means he needs to buy stuff each mo, gotta be done. Personally I would not ever let his asset S get over $1700 cause if you should overlook 2 months of PNAs, that’s got him at 2k max. Good luck shopping.