Watch Your Language: Grantor
The grantor is the person who creates a trust. No matter what type of trust you have, the grantor is always in charge because they set the trust’s terms. [Read More]
Ethan Huizenga
August 28, 2018
Watch Your Language: Snapshot Date
When you first submit a Medicaid application for nursing facility care (and Elderly Waiver, in Iowa), DHS takes a “snapshot” of your financial status as of the date you first moved into the nursing home. This is called the “snapshot date.” [Read More]
Ethan Huizenga
August 7, 2018
Watch Your Language: Asset
In the Medicaid world, the term “asset” is used when discussing Medicaid’s transfer penalty rules. As a result, “asset” includes both income and resources. [Read More]
Ethan Huizenga
July 31, 2018
Watch Your Language: Resource
The third test in the Medicaid application process considers whether the applicant has too many resources. But what is a resource?[Read More]
Ethan Huizenga
October 18, 2016
Watch Your Language: D.R.A.
In 2005, Congress passed legislation which, among many, many other things, changed the way a Medicaid applicant’s resources and past transfers are considered. This bill is called the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and was signed by the President on February 8, 2006.[Read More]
Ethan Huizenga
October 11, 2016
Watch Your Language: Income
The Medicaid definition of “income” comes from federal law and reads as follows: Income is “[a]nything a person receives either in cash or in kind that can be used to meet the person’s basic needs of food, clothing, or shelter.” [Read More]
Ethan Huizenga
September 21, 2016
Watch Your Language: Attribution
Here’s how the Iowa Medicaid manual describes an attribution: “When one spouse enters a medical institution or applies for a home- and community-based services waiver, […] resources are attributed to the ‘community spouse’ to protect sufficient resources for the community spouse’s maintenance.” What does that mean in normal english? [Read More]
Ethan Huizenga
September 13, 2016
Watch Your Language: Unavailable Resource
The primary classification of assets under the Medicaid rules is whether an asset is countable or non-countable. But there’s a special class of resources that is both countable and non-countable – an exception to the general rule: the unavailable resource. [Read More]
Ethan Huizenga
September 6, 2016
Watch Your Language: Non-Countable Resource
Once you’ve disclosed all your resources to Medicaid, it’s up to the state to determine which ones are countable and which are non-countable. The term “non-countable resource” is defined quite narrowly. It only includes a very small list of specific assets that the federal government has said should be disregarded by the Department of Human Services. [Read More]
Ethan Huizenga
August 23, 2016
Watch Your Language: Countable Resource
If you’re asking Medicaid to help pay for nursing home care for a loved one, you’ll have to tell the state about everything they own. Everything. It’s the state’s job to determine whether they’re eligible based on the value of those assets that are considered countable resources. [Read More]
Ethan Huizenga
August 16, 2016
