[ROCKETMAN]

I knew this subject would get some comments and it did get 96 comments over seven pages. One common theme is it fair to gift money to heirs and then have the government pay for your care. Most of us have been paying taxes for 50 years and part of that goes to fund Medicare. Two things I found out for sure is for example you are a married couple and own a house. One of you goes in a Medicaid nursing home. First of all your retirement funds whether an ira, annuity, is protected no matter what the balance. That’s the funds where you take your annual withdrawals from. The surviving spouse also has $154,000 protected even its a joint account. As far as gifting and 5 year look back, I’m not real clear on that.

[VApeople]

Originally Posted by ROCKETMAN

is it fair to gift money to heirs and then have the government pay for your care.

We do not plan to do that. We plan to keep our money under our control until both of us die, and then our heirs can have what is left.

[RedChariot]

As a retired RN and Nursing Administrator, you don't ever want to go into a Medicaid Nursing home. Keep your money to provide you and your wife the best care you can afford. Forget the heirs. If there is anything left at the end of your life, they can inherit that.

[Inspector Mark]

When my patents were both alive my dad needed to move full time in a memory clinic. We worked with an elder care attorney to figure this exact thing out. The result was that they took the value of my parents retirement and investments as of the last day he spent in their own home and said half is mom's and half is dad's. Next they said my mom is entitled to maintain here current standard of living so she could keep the home and certain only money from my dad's half of the retirement and investments. That left Dad with about a quarter of the money.

Before dad could qualify for medicaid he needed to spend that money. Then he would be broke and qualify for medicaid.

This was all done 6 years ago, so fairly recent info.

I think the 5 year look back comes into play if there is not a surviving spouse

[CoachKandSportsguy]

Originally Posted by Inspector Mark

When my patents were both alive my dad needed to move full time in a memory clinic. We worked with an elder care attorney to figure this exact thing out. The result was that they took the value of my parents retirement and investments as of the last day he spent in their own home and said half is mom's and half is dad's. Next they said my mom is entitled to maintain here current standard of living so she could keep the home and certain only money from my dad's half of the retirement and investments. That left Dad with about a quarter of the money.

Before dad could qualify for medicaid he needed to spend that money. Then he would be broke and qualify for medicaid.

This was all done 6 years ago, so fairly recent info.

I think the 5 year look back comes into play if there is not a surviving spouse

and then what happens if the sole surviving spouse has to go into memory care?

[Bogie Shooter]

Wasn’t 96 posts enough?

[LuvtheVillages]

Originally Posted by RedChariot

As a retired RN and Nursing Administrator, you don't ever want to go into a Medicaid Nursing home. Keep your money to provide you and your wife the best care you can afford. Forget the heirs. If there is anything left at the end of your life, they can inherit that.

Yes, I have heard this often.

The senior homes that are mostly funded by Medicaid (charity care) do not have sufficient funds to hire enough qualified staff. You get minimal, poor care.

Far better to keep your money so you can afford decent care. Don't worry about your family. They can earn their own nest egg, just like you did.

Cannot swear this is true, but family member told me that the better senior homes require you to have sufficient funds to cover X months cost of care before going on Medicaid. The better the home, the larger X is.

[CarlR33]

Is it fair=Survival?? Who cares about the gifting as you did not earn your money to gift you earned it for you? I always told my family to never worry about me if I do get something from them it will only be icing on the cake! After 96 posts and now again you need to get professional advice and commit to a plan already?

[vintageogauge]

You don't want to go to a medicaid facility, that is no way to spend your final days. Our kids understand that in no way are either of us going to a nursing home or memory facility, we will be taken care of at home using our funds to pay for help if the family chooses to save the expense they can care for us as much as they can. We'll see.