Almost half of all seniors eventually turn to Medicaid for help covering the high cost of long-term care. If you are one of those who needs to qualify for Medicaid at some point, will you be able to keep your real estate? Understandably, it’s a question that worries every senior facing the need to qualify for Medicaid benefits. The answer may surprise you. While you may already know that your primary residence is likely exempt from the Medicaid “spend-down” requirements, you may not know that there are other types of real property Medicaid may also …show more content…
The “countable resource” limit is very low, typically just $2,000 for an individual applicant and $3,000 for a couple. If the value of an applicant’s countable resources exceeds the program limit, the applicant must “spend-down” those resources during a waiting period before Medicaid will start providing benefits. The length of an applicant’s waiting period is determined by a formula that takes into account the value of the applicant’s assets and the average cost of LTC in the state. During the waiting period the applicant is expected to rely on his/her assets to cover LTC …show more content…
Medicaid’s five-year look-back rule prohibits asset transfers during the five-year period prior to applying for benefits. Therefore, if you transferred the property within that time frame the value of your life estate might not be exempt.
• Jointly held property – if your name is on the title to real property, Medicaid will likely consider it your property. This most frequently creates a problem if you have co-signed for a mortgage and put your name on the title to property as a way to help out children or grandchildren. As far as Medicaid is concerned, even if someone else has made all of the mortgage payments, if your name is on the title or deed to the property it will be counted as a “countable