Medicaid:
In North Carolina, Medicaid can be received if a individual qualifies for it.
For Nursing Home Medicaid in North Carolina:
If the individual is going to stay in a nursing home, they may be eligible
for Medicaid. First of all, a family member or the resident's Power of Attorney
needs to go down to the Medicaid office in the county that the resident was living in.
The Medicaid office usually will look at the financial records of
the resident for the last year, however, they can go back to three years.
To qualify, they need to have less than $2,000.00. If they have more than that and the cost of the nursing home
will deplete their funds quickly, you may want to go ahead and apply. This
will give the Medicaid office a record of the resident and let you know exactly
how much they need to spend their money down too. This is VERY important
when there is a spouse involved.
If the resident is married, this does
not mean that one of them can't receive Medicaid. Medicaid will combine
all of the assets together, then split the assets down the middle. For
example: if the couple has $10,000.00 after combining everything together, they
will give $5,000.00 to each of them. When the resident that is in the
nursing home spends their money, this is called a spin down, to below $2,000.00,
then he or she can qualify for Medicaid. You can't prepay a nursing home
for months and then say you have spent the money because Medicaid will not count
that until the final month that you have paid for is finished. For
example: you can't spend the money for 3 months of nursing home care and
then tell the Medicaid office that he or she now
qualifies.
Be aware: When you are spending the money, you need to keep
all of your receipts to prove that you have spent it on the resident.
If
there is a house involved, as long as their spouse is still living in it,
Medicaid will allow the spouse to remain there. The house is not figured
in the amount that has to be spent down.
If the resident is not married
and has a house, talk to a lawyer, but usually the house needs to be rented out
to help pay for the nursing home costs or the house needs to be sold to pay for
the resident's nursing home care.
If the house has been signed over to a
family member prior to three years, then the house will stay in the family and
is not included as a resident asset.
