Individuals in nursing homes must meet set criteria to receive public assistance.
Metropolitan Life's 2009 MetLife Market Survey describes a nursing home as a facility which provides residents with a room, meals, personal care, nursing care, and medical services. Impaired individuals or their families often wonder whether, under government guidelines, they meet the qualifications for receiving financial aid for nursing home care. Regulations spell out clearly when an individual can receive public assistance for nursing home care.
Social Security
If an individual received Social Security payments before entering a nursing home, the individual will continue to receive the Social Security checks while residing in the nursing home. Nursing home residents who receive Medicaid must apply all of their Social Security allowance check (except for a monthly personal needs allowance of $52) to their nursing home. If a spouse uses the nursing home resident's Social Security check for basic needs, the spouse may keep a minimum monthly needs allowance from the resident's Social Security check. The Medical Assistance office of the nursing home calculates the amount of Social Security that the spouse keeps based on other available income and assets, house and health insurance payments, health aids, unpaid medical bills and obligations to support other individuals.
Medicare
Medicare will pay for some of the nursing home costs if a Medicare beneficiary requires skilled rehabilitation or nursing services. Beneficiaries receive this care at a certified skilled nursing home immediately after they have stayed at a hospital for at least three days. Medicare will help pay for care in a Skilled Nursing Facility after hospitalization but will not pay for intermediate care or residential care. Individuals should contact the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) in their state for their state's qualification and payment guidelines.
Medicaid
States regulate Medicaid payments, so individuals should check with their state Department of Social Services, Department of Human Services or SHIP to ascertain whether they qualify to receive nursing home care under the auspices of Medicaid. In general, a Medicaid representative must judge an individual as medically needy and in need of assistance to receive Medicaid assistance for nursing home care. In addition the individual's assets and income (taking into account the income and assets of both spouses if the impaired individual has a spouse) must fall below guidelines set by the state (varies by state).
Related Posts:
Can Medicare Take Your Ss If You Go Into A Nursing Home
Medicare recipients have a maze of government regulations to navigate.Medicare and Social Security are both safety nets intended to prevent elderly Americans from falling into poverty. They are se...
Nursing Home Patient Asset Requirements In Pennsylvania
You may divest some assets to qualify for medical assistance by buying independent nursing care resources.Medicaid provides medical assistance including nursing home care to all qualifying seniors...
Divest Assets If Going To A Nursing Home
Nursing home care can be prohibitively expensive for most families. On average, nursing homes cost around $70,000 annually as of 2011, according to Helpguide. Medicare only covers skilled-nursing...
Shelter Assets From Nursing Home Care Costs
Protect your assets from nursing home costs.People spend their entire lives accumulating assets. Unfortunately, if you or your spouse becomes sick and requires nursing home care, your assets will...
Protect Your Family'S Assets From Devastating Nursing Home Costs
The cost of an extended stay in a long-term care facility can be devastating to a retirement portfolio. According to the Long Term Care Clearinghouse, a federal repository of long-term care inform...
