According to the California Registry, the average cost of a shared room in a nursing home is $5,000 per month. If you and your spouse both receive residential care, you could use up a $50,000 savings account balance within five years. Our lawyers can help you structure your assets to avoid this crippling expense and what you need to know about qualifying for Medi-Cal..
Qualifying for Medi-Cal
Medi-Cal is California’s version of Medicaid, a government benefit program designed to help people with the costs of long-term care in a skilled nursing facility or custodial care facility. The program has very low asset limits for qualification, and many people must be impoverished before Medi-Cal payments become available. But our skilled attorneys help you know the difference between countable and exempt assets, and we show you financial strategies you can implement before you apply for benefits. These techniques include:
- Reducing your countable assets by using them to pay off your debts
- Making gifts to family members and friends in ways that minimize ineligibility periods
- Buying a Medi-Cal-approved income annuity
- Acquiring assets that Medi-Cal considers exempt
- Protecting your benefits and your home equity if your residence is sold
When both spouses move into a skilled nursing facility, often their home is sold. The proceeds from such a sale can endanger your Medi-Cal eligibility status. If you want to maintain the value of the home for your family, our lawyers can help protect the value of the home from recovery for nursing care costs. Contact us today to learn more about how you can prepare and plan for your future. You can also view our testimonials page to see how we have helped others. We also invite you to sign up for our regularly scheduled free seminars on estate planning held at our Anaheim office.