Crisis Medicaid Planning Attorney In Bucks County, Pa And Northeast Philadelphia
Bucks County, PA Crisis Medicaid Planning Attorney
We provide legal help in obtaining long-term medical care benefits in Bucks County and Northeast Philadelphia when Medicaid is needed urgently and there is no time to plan conventionally. This includes cases of sudden illness or disability, such as a stroke or an automobile accident and the incapacity that they may cause. If someone is diagnosed with a terminal disease at an advanced age, they will need medical care and possibly long-term skilled nursing facility care.
What is Crisis Medicaid Planning?
Crisis Medicaid Planning takes into consideration all available legal options to make a person eligible to receive Medicaid services as soon as possible. There are few such options available, but a skilled crisis Medicaid planning attorney should be able to help to preserve all, or at least some, of the person’s assets and prevent their dissipation. A knowledgeable attorney will help even if the person needs to be admitted to the nursing home in the near future or is already there. Medicare will fully pay for only 20 days of long-term care, so there is no time to wait. The full financial burden of long-term care is $12,000 – 15,000 per month in Pennsylvania.
What Options are Available in a Crisis?
Crisis Medical planning is much more difficult that ordinary Medicaid planning because there is no more time to wait, so you cannot just give away all your assets and become eligible for Medicaid because the five-year look-back period applies to gifts. Hence, fewer options are available, and some of them come with significant drawbacks. It is essential to find an attorney who understand the interconnection of the federal and state Medicaid law and rules and will guide your through their intricacies. Some of the crisis options to obtain Medicaid eligibility, home care, and long-term or nursing home care include:
- Transfer of marital home to spouse.
- Spousal resource and income allowances.
- Spousal refusal to cover health costs in cases of hardship.
- Divorce to protect the assets.
- Transfers to children who are under 21 years old, blind or disabled.
- Transfers of home to caregiver children.
- Certain kinds of Special Needs Trusts (SNTs) for persons with disabilities.
- Medicaid-compliant annuities.
- Spend-down of assets on prepayment of needed expenses.
- Conversion of Medicaid non-exempt assets into exempt assets.
- Loan-gift strategy to save half of non-exempt resources.
- Payment of long-term care out-of-pocket or with an annuity to exhaust the penalty period on asset transfers.
- Purchasing a Life Estate.
We will guide you through these complicated strategies and help you become eligible for Medicaid.
The Crisis Planning Process
During your initial consultation, we will:
- Evaluate your current assets and income, including retirement plans and accounts.
- Evaluate your physical and mental conditions and their limitations.
- Discuss available care options, including home care and skilled nursing facilities.
- Review your family composition to plan exempt transfers to family members.
- Develop an individualized plan to protect your assets as much as possible and secure Medicaid benefits.
- Protect the family home from Medicaid Estate Recovery.
After the initial consultation we can prepare essential documents to ensure that your long-term care will be provided for you and that your assets are preserved.