How to Ensure Kansas Medicaid Eligibility When You Need It

Kansas Medicaid eligibility is determined by your income, resource level, and certain other criteria. Many people need to qualify for Medicaid to get their nursing home costs or essential medical bills paid. Unfortunately, qualifying may not be possible without you spending down your assets. This can be a big problem for seniors who spent a lifetime building a nest egg they could end up losing if they need nursing home care. 

Kansas Medicaid eligibility lawyers at Parman & Easterday can provide assistance in protecting your assets while still ensuring eligibility for Medicaid coverage. Give us a call today to find out more about how we can assist you in getting nursing home costs and medical care costs covered.

How to Ensure Kansas Medicaid Eligibility

Medicaid is a means-tested government program. This means eligibility for Medicaid benefits is not available to everyone. Eligibility is limited to people with limited income. It is also limited to people with few financial resources. It is the financial resources limitations which often cause problems for older people who may have costly medical needs they want Medicaid to cover.

If you have worked hard your whole life to buy a house, put some money in the bank, and have security as you get older, you probably have too many resources to qualify for Medicaid. This puts you in a difficult situation when you need Medicaid benefits, because having too much property will disqualify you. You could end up having to spend all your money, and possibly sell some of your property, just to pay nursing home bills and medical expenses. Once your resources are gone, Medicaid kicks in-but your legacy is lost.

To avoid this, you need to plan in advance to qualify for Kansas Medicaid eligibility should you ever need coverage. To ensure your eligibility, speak with a Medicaid planning lawyer to learn how to transfer and structure ownership of your assets so  they don’t count as a resource.  If you transfer property into certain irrevocable trusts, the trust owns the property and not you. The assets held in the trust are not considered resources available to you, and thus don’t count in determining Medicaid eligibility.  The rules are complex and confusing, so seek the assistance of a qualified Medicaid planning attorney before starting down this road.

Medicaid doesn’t want people transferring assets immediately before entering a nursing home, so to prevent this Medicaid looks back five years from the date you apply for benefits. Any transfers during this time period will disqualify you for Medicaid coverage for a set number of months calculated by dividing the total value of transferred assets by the average monthly nursing home costs in the area where you live.

If you do your Medicaid planning at least five years before you need Medicaid coverage, you won’t have to worry about this lookback period and can ensure your eligibility for Kansas Medicaid when you need it.

Why is Kansas Medicaid Eligibility Important?

Kansas Medicaid eligibility is important because Medicaid is typically the only provider of insurance that will pay for the nursing home care you are most likely to need. Medicare pays for skilled care in a nursing home, such as  if you have surgery and need to go into a nursing home for a few days or weeks so nurses can change your surgical dressings.  Medicare does not pay for routine custodial care, which is the day-to-day care that sends most patients to nursing homes.

Private insurance doesn’t pay for custodial nursing home care. Unless you purchased a long-term care insurance policy, you have just two options for paying your nursing home bills: Medicaid and your own nest egg. If you don’t want to spend all your money on nursing home care in just a matter of months , you need to qualify for Medicaid coverage.

How an Overland Park Medicaid Planning Lawyer Can Help

An Overland Park, KS Medicaid planning lawyer can provide invaluable assistance to those who need to qualify for medical care coverage through Medicaid. Give us a call today at (913) 385-9400 or (405) 703-9987 or contact us online to learn more about protecting your assets and taking the necessary steps to secure Medicaid benefits. You can also join us for a free seminar to learn more about the Medicaid planning process and about why Kansas Medicaid eligibility can be so important to seniors.