Legal Information Links
- A few links and updates for 2011 changes that you may need to know -
Great links on the 2011 changes you should be aware of..
http://wnylc.com/health/news/c2011/
New York Dramatically Expands Mandatory Managed Care for Medicaid Beneficiaries
http://www.empirejustice.org/issue-areas/health/medicaid–related-programs/new-york-dramatically-expands.html
New York Health Access
http://wnylc.com/health/entry/87/
Medicaid 101: Eligibility for Public Health Insurance in New York State
http://wnylc.com/health/entry/72/
From UK Alzheimer’s Society
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=154
Medicare, Medicaid, and Alzheimer’s
http://www.alzinfo.org/08/alzheimers/medicare-medicaid-and-alzheimers
Emergency Regulations for New York State
http://www.health.ny.gov/regulations/emergency/
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“Protecting Assets From Nursing Home Costs”
NY issued a new Administrative Directive on July 11, 2011 that will make it more difficult to protect assets from nursing home costs. In essence, a Medicaid applicant can set aside money for burial space items for a child, brother, sister, and the spouses of those family members to protect that money from being treated as an available resource for Medicaid. This is a plannning technique that I have used often to protect assets from being used to pay for nursing home costs. Now Medicaid requires you to do that the month prior to getting on Medicaid. The problem is that many people consult with a lawyer after there is an emergency so even if you set up the burial space agreements, if you dont set them up before you go into a nursing home, you can lose Medicaid qualification for each month you havent set up the agreements, which in NY can cost you $8,500 to $11,000 a month. This is a rediculous law merely intended to hurt and not help people who want to try to protect some of their assets and not lose everything because they are going into a nursing home. So you may want to plan ahead and consider the use of burial space agreeements prior to going into a nursing home to protect some of your life savings for the people you love instead of giving the money to a nursing home.
“Estate Recovery”
A traditional Medicaid planning strategy was to transfer the house with a reserved life estate.
This planning has all been changed by recent legislation passed April 1, 2011 in NY, which gave Medicaid the right to “Estate Recovery” against certain assets and property interests owned by a Medicaid applicant at the time of death such as a life estate.
Draft regulations have been issued which are not good, in that they provide for the retroactive application of the new law affecting all property transfers with reserved life estates. If you have transferred real property, with a retained life estate, you need to consult with your attorney immediately to review the new law and its effect on your transfer of the real estate with a reserved life estate, because the life estate is no longer protected post April 1, 2011.
“Protecting Home and Other Assets From Medicaid”
When a person is applying for Medicaid, they want to protect their home and other assets from Medicaid and the nursing home. One way of doing that is to transfer their home to a disabled child. The “homestead” transfer exemption is to a child who is blind, disabled or under age 21. The “other asset” exemption is to a blind or disabled child or a trust established for the sole benefit of the child. It was unclear whether the “other asset” exemption on transfers also applied to the “homestead”, or whether the homestead transfer exemptions were exclusive. For example, can a homestead be transferred to a trust for the sole benefit of a disabled person under the age of 65? A recent Fair hearing decision rendered in NY on June 10th, 2011 ruled that the homestead or house had to be transferred outright to the disabled child and not to a Supplemental Needs Trust for the disabled child. In that case, Medicaid was denied to a mother who transferred her house to a trust for her son and not to her son. If transferred to her son, Medicaid would ave been granted. You need to be aware of this decision if you plan to protect your house by transferring it to a disabled child.
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