Although you may never before have had a need to qualify for Medicaid, you may find that changes at some point during your retirement years as a result of the high cost of long-term care. If you find yourself in need of the benefits offered by Medicaid, and you failed to plan for the possibility, you may also find that your retirement nest egg is at risk. The best way to avoid that is to know what assets you can have and still qualify for Medicaid in Florida. With that in mind, the Port St. Lucie Medicaid planning attorneys at Kulas & Crawford explain the Medicaid eligibility requirements for seniors in Florida.
Why Would I Need to Qualify for Medicaid?
Experts tell us that if you are close to retirement age right now (age 65), you stand close to a 70 percent chance of needing some type of long-term care (LTC) services before the end of your lifetime. If you are married, your spouse shares the same odds. If either of you ends up in nursing home care, the cost of that care could put your retirement nest egg at substantial risk unless you planned ahead by including long-term care and Medicaid planning in your comprehensive estate plan.
Nationwide, the average cost of a year in LTC for 2021 was over $100,000. If you are a Florida resident you can expect to pay a bit more than the national average. For that same year, the average yearly cost for a private room in LTC was over $115,000 in Florida. With an average stay of three years, your total LTC bill could easily exceed $300,000 – and that is if you needed care today. Naturally, with every year that passes the cost of LTC will increase.
Like many seniors, you may rely on Medicare to cover most of your health care expenses once you retire, you won’t be able to turn to Medicare for LTC expenses because Medicare won’t cover them. Neither will most health insurance policies which is why over half of all seniors currently in an LTC facility rely on Medicaid for help paying their bills. For Medicaid to help though, you must first qualify for benefits.
Will I Qualify for Medicaid?
Because Medicaid is a “needs-based” program that is intended to help low-income individuals and families with health care expenses, the program uses both income and assets limits when determining eligibility. An applicant cannot own countable resources (assets) valued at more than the limit or the application will be turned down. As an individual applicant, your countable resources cannot exceed $2,000-$5,000 (depending on the category of Medicaid). For a married couple, the limit is $3,000-$6,000 if both spouses are applying. Fortunately, some assets are exempt from consideration when determining eligibility. In Florida, common exempt assets include:
- One home up to an equity limit of $636,000 (conditions apply).
- One vehicle
- An irrevocable burial trust
- Household furnishings, furniture, clothing, jewelry, and other personal effects.
If your non-exempt assets exceed the limit, your application will be turned down and you will be required to “spend-down” those assets before Medicaid will approve your eligibility. In reality, this means you will have to use those assets to cover your LTC expenses until the value of your assets has diminished to the point where Medicaid finds you eligible. Furthermore, Medicaid’s five-year “look-back” rule prohibits you from transferring your non-exempt assets at the last minute in anticipation of the need to qualify for Medicaid. The key, therefore, to protecting your assets and ensuring that you qualify for Medicaid is to include Medicaid planning in your comprehensive estate plan long before you find yourself in need of help paying your LTC bill.
Contact Florida Medicaid Planning Lawyers
For additional information and assistance, please FREE solid estate plan checklist. If you have specific questions about qualifying for Medicaid, please contact the experienced Port St. Lucie Medicaid planning lawyers at Kulas & Crawford by calling (772) 398-0720 to schedule an appointment.
