In this Elder Law Minute, Wes Coulson explains how you don’t have to pay the full cost of resident care while their Medicaid application is pending.
Transcript:
Hi! I’m Wes Coulson from Dent-Coulson Elder Law, proudly serving clients throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area and beyond. I’d like to welcome you to our Elder Law and Estate Planning Minute. We do these to help educate people, give them some little tips, and especially to let them know the questions they need to ask, things that they’ve maybe not thought of. Our thought on that is that we can help you best if you realize the things that you need help and that we can help you with. So I hope you enjoy. Thanks!
One of the questions we very commonly encounter is do we have to pay the nursing home the full cost of the resident’s care, while their Medicaid application is pending. Let me give a very short and succinct answer to that question: no.
There is a provision in the Illinois administrative code, there’s provision in Illinois law, there’s provision in the federal Medicaid regulations that say that a nursing home does not have the right to discharge someone for nonpayment while a Medicaid application is pending. The only responsibility is to pay that person’s required monthly income contribution to the cost of their care. In other words, the amount of their income that they’re going to be required to pay once the Medicaid application is approved.
Beyond that, sorry don’t let a nursing home bully you into saying that you have to pay the full cost because, simply put, you don’t. Thanks!
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“Your Trusted Advisor on the Elder Care Journey”
Dent-Coulson Elder Law is dedicated to providing families in the St. Louis area with their Elder Law needs. Our practice areas include Asset Preservation Planning, Veterans Benefits, Medicaid Eligibility, Alzheimer’s Planning, Special Needs Planning, Estate Planning and more. We understand the financial challenges you may face as you and your loved ones grow older. At Dent-Coulson Elder Law, our clients’ well-being is our number one priority. For immediate help, call (618) 632-7000 (IL) or (314) 567-9292 (MO), or Contact Us and we will get in touch as soon as possible.
