Can an Elder Law Attorney Help Me with Medicaid?

Paying for a nursing home - Ensuring that the elderly have their rights respected is extremely important. That is where an elder law Medicaid attorney can play a major role.

MarketWatch’s recent article entitled, “What does an elder law Medicaid attorney do?” explains that an elder law attorney specializes in the needs of older adults, which can be different when compared to younger adults, such as Medicaid.

The financial rules for Medicaid coverage are complicated and state-specific. However, generally people must spend down to about $2,000 in savings and investments.

Planning to use Medicaid for paying for nursing home is also complicated by the fact that, while its coverage of nursing home care is comprehensive, its payment for home care and assisted living facility fees is only partial and differs both from state to state.

An elder law Medicaid attorney knows and understands the Medicaid requirements.  Medicaid qualification generally comes with a very specific set of requirements. The elder law Medicaid attorney can help you with this application process for paying for nursing home.

Medicaid is only available after a person has depleted almost all their assets. An elder law attorney can use techniques to lower an applicant’s countable income or assets. That will help make the applicant eligible, while protecting their life savings and home at the same time.

In addition, an elder law Medicaid attorney can help with some pre-planning for emergency situations if you need to be paying for nursing home.  This may include estate planning. In particular, a durable power of attorney for health care is a legal document that lets your designated agent or proxy make medical decisions for you, if incapacitated.

Another document is a living will, which is designed to apply only in very limited situations when you have an incurable or irreversible medical condition or conditions that will most likely will result in your death within a short period of time.

A living will can address life-sustaining treatments, such as ventilators, nutrition via a feeding tube and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or other extraordinary measures. It can also address issues like pain management and palliative care.

Reference: MarketWatch (Oct. 4, 2022) “What does an elder law Medicaid attorney do?”