A family was recently referred to us by a local nursing home because the wife had a stroke and she is going to need care for the foreseeable future. The nursing home social worker was talking with the husband, who was scared because he had a modest amount of money that he has accumulated during his lifetime, but was nervous that it would not take long at $11,400 a month for him to not be able to provide for himself in the future.
For help with that problem, the Pennsylvania Medicaid spousal rules are certainly a great start and provide that as the community spouse, the husband would be allowed to keep the house, his car, his retirement account, and one-half of the remaining assets, up to a maximum in 2019 of $126,420.00 and no less than $25,284.00 (those amounts change each year). The social worker explained this to the husband and he still had some trepidation, being only in his late 50s, wanting to know if that would be enough for him to live another 50 years of his life. He loved the nursing home that he was able to get his wife into and was excited about the care that she will receive.
After several sleepless nights for him, the social worker told him to give us a call and I met with him recently. The husband is an absolute joy to work with and was very appreciative of the care that his wife was receiving. He was ecstatic when I was able to tell him that we would be able to not only protect the aforementioned items, but also the additional $350,000 on top of the $124,000 that was guaranteed under the law.
We were able to put the plan in place and did get approval on the Medicaid application. It is very rare in our profession that family members hug or show outward affection toward their lawyers. I will never forget the moment when we received the application and I was able to tell my client that we were able to protect the items that he knew about, but in addition to that, the other monies that he had feared of losing.
With tears in his eyes, he hugged me and said, Jeff I will never be able to repay you. I appreciate everything that the nursing home has done for me and for my wife, but it is also comforting to know that now I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to live for the remainder of my life and the care that I receive.
We are pleased to report that this outcome is a very common for our clients; we have been able to secure this result for hundreds of clients in and around York, Pennsylvania. If you or a family member have a loved one in a nursing home and need assistance, please call us (717-845-5390) or click here and give us a little information and we'll call you, and it will be our pleasure to make this success story yours.
Jeffrey Bellomo
