When Doing it Yourself (Medicaid) Can Take You Only So Far

     We got a call the other day from Joe.  He had prepared and filed his mother’s Medicaid application himself.    From what he told us, it sounded like he did a great job.

     He had hit a bit of a snag because Joe and his brother had been helping Mom out with her expenses.  At first, the Medicaid caseworker treated the transfers into Mom’s account as additional income to her.  However, Joe was successfully able to prove that the money was given to Mom to help pay some of her medical expenses.  It wasn’t support and shouldn’t affect her Medicaid eligibility.  He was successful and Medicaid was approved.

     So why was he calling?  Because his mother had inherited $75,000 from a family member.  The first thing he wanted to know was whether there was any way they could keep the money.  His thinking was that it would be a reimbursement by Mom to Joe and his brother.

     I told him that unfortunately I didn’t think so.  However, there is a lesson here.  Had Joe consulted with us before he applied for Medicaid I would have taken steps to make sure that he could recoup some of the funds.  Next week I’ll tell you those steps are.