Nursing Home Medicaid

The fact is, nearly 70% of Americans will require some form of long term care during their lifetime. While this usually applies to the elderly, it doesn’t just happen to them; many young people also wind up needing long term care due to unexpected illness, disability, accidents, and so forth. Long term care generally means medical care and assistance provided by a caregiver while still at home, or by an assisted living or nursing facility.

Long term care can be very expensive. The average cost for one month in a skilled nursing facility is nearly $8,000 per month. In-home health care can cost even more, depending on the types of care provided.

Most people assume that their spouse or children will take care of them if long term care becomes necessary. However, they often don’t think about the financial burden that can place on their loved ones; not to mention that there’s always the possibility that illness, death, divorce and moving away can mean that their spouse or children won’t be around when the need for long term care arises.

If you go into a nursing home, you can pay your bill there in one of two ways:

1. Private pay at the rate of nearly $8,000/month (possibly with the assistance of long term care insurance, if you’re one of the few Americans that has it), or

2. Qualify for Medicaid, which will pay for nearly all of your cost of care in a nursing home.

Obviously, most people would choose Option B. However, Medicaid is a needs-based program; in other words, your income and assets (plus your spouse’s assets, if you’re married) must be under certain limits in order to qualify for Medicaid. Otherwise, you have too much money and are ineligible to receive benefits.