• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Duffy Law Office, PLLC

Helping Families Preserve Their Wealth

  • Home
  • Our Firm
    • About Our Firm
    • About The American Academy
    • Advantages of Working With Our Firm
    • Attorney and Staff Profiles
    • Speaker Connection
  • Services
    • Asset Protection & Business Planning
    • Elder Law & Medicaid Services
    • Estate and Gift Tax Figures
    • Estate Planning Services
    • Family-Owned Businesses & Farms
    • Financial Planning Assistance
    • Incapacity Planning
    • IRA & Retirement Planning
    • LGBTQ Estate Planning
    • SECURE Act
    • Special Needs Planning
    • Trust Administration & Probate
  • Reports
    • Advanced Estate Planning
    • Basic Estate Planning
    • Estate Planning For Niches
    • Trust Administration
  • Resources
    • Client Resources
    • Consumer Resources
    • Published Books
  • BLOG
  • Contact Us
  • (563) 445-7400
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Your Spouse, Your Home & Medicaid

Dennis D. Duffy · Mar 30, 2013 ·

It may surprise you to hear that most of the nursing home care that elders receive in the United States is paid for by the Medicaid program.

Medicare doesn’t pay for long-term care. As a result, a lot of seniors who were never really poor ultimately must apply for Medicaid when they need nursing home care.

The upper resource limit with regard to countable assets is $2000, so many people must “spend down” to qualify.

It should however be noted that your home and your vehicle and some other personal possessions aren’t factored in when your total assets are being tallied by Medicaid evaluators.

There is a caveat here however. While you may retain ownership of your home without its value counting against your overall assets there is an upper equity limit.

The Medicaid program is jointly administered by the states along with the federal government. Therefore, each state has some ability to set its own standards, but there are federally mandated guidelines.

At minimum the equity limit in 2013 is $536,000, but each state has the ability to raise this to as much as $802,000. There is no limit at all if the healthy spouse is going to continue to live in the home.

When it comes to countable assets, the spouse that will remain on his or her own can keep half of the resources that the couple shared, but there is a limit imposed by the states within federal guidelines.

In 2013 the minimum amount of shared countable countable assets that the healthy or community spouse may be allowed to hold on to is $23,184. The maximum amount that can be set by a state is $115,920.

 

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Dennis D. Duffy
Latest posts by Dennis D. Duffy (see all)
  • Attorneys Want to Help - December 14, 2016
  • Trusts and the Estate Tax - December 14, 2016
  • What Is a Third Party Special Needs Trust? - December 14, 2016

Elder Law Elder Law, Long Term Care, Medicaid

Blog Subscription

Where we are

Duffy Law Office, PLLC
1840 E 54th St
Davenport, IA 52807
United States (US)
Phone: (563) 445-7400

Opening hours

Monday8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Tuesday8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Wednesday8:30 AM - 4:30 PM
Thursday8:30 AM - 4:30 PM

Map

duffy_hmpg_map.png

© 2023 · American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys, Inc. | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Sitemap | Contact Us