subject: William Neil Gallagher [print this page] William Neil Gallagher William Neil Gallagher
W. Neil Gallagher
An individual who has sufficient assets to pay for three years of care may freely give away assets in excess of this amount, and there is no look-back and no Medicaid waiting period. For those who cannot pay for an entire 36 months but who can pay for some institutional care, one planning strategy is the "half a loaf' technique. The individual transfers half of his assets to a third party and then retains the other half to support himself during the resulting period of ineligibility.
Medicare typically doesn't pay for long-term care and pays only for medically necessary skilled nursing facility or home health care. Skilled nursing care and home health aide services are only covered on a part-time or "intermittent" basis. An individual must meet certain conditions for Medicare to pay for these types of care when discharged from the hospital.
Doc Gallagher:Some individual might also pay off a home mortgage, purchase a more expensive home, remodel the current home or pay off debts and other liabilities. Such funds might also be profitably spent on dental checkups, purchasing glasses or anything else that would not be covered under Medicare once the individual is institutionalized.
About William Neil Gallagher
Individuals are eligible for another 60-day hospital stay if they have been out of the hospital for at least 60 continuous days. Medicare covers nursing care under limited circumstances. It pays for the first 100 days per benefit period for "skilled" nursing care or rehabilitation services in nursing homes that are designated as skilled nursing facilities. Generally, this means that the care provided is so complex that it may be provided only by professional personnel, i.e., doctors, nurses, therapists.
Example
A rental property worth $50,000 can be converted to an annuity that pays $500 monthly over 10 years. The annuity would produce $6,000 of income annually. Assuming that the Medicaid recipient died before the 10 years expired, the survivors would receive the remaining balance of the annuity, which constitutes income rather than an asset for purposes of Medicaid eligibility.
