You may qualify for Medicaid Home Care Benefits, but you may also find the approval process seems completely elusive. Your state Medicaid office will generally process your application under a special “medically needy” provision that requires complex medical documentation. Even more complicated, Medicaid will require that you pay any income that you receive over Medicaid’s income cap directly back to them.
A Medicaid trust can help you navigate the Medicaid application process for the best outcome – getting to stay in your home and keep your money. With a trust, you pay any amount over the Medicaid income cap into the trust each month and get to use those funds to pay for covered healthcare and living expenses.
You will go through a seven-step process with the guidance of Medicaid trust experts at every step:
Table of Contents
1. Book Your Free Consultation
It can be difficult to figure out whether you would benefit from Medicaid with your unique circumstances. A Medicaid trust expert will guide you through the process of determining whether your medical needs and income make you a good candidate to pursue benefits and join a pooled trust.
2. Prepare to Apply for Medicaid
Medicaid trust experts will help you apply for Medicaid. They can help you fill out the required application and gather all of the necessary medical and legal documents that you will need to file.
3. Determine Your Medicaid Eligibility
To receive Home Care Benefits, you must be disabled or over the age of 65 and meet income limits. Medicaid most often denies applicants for having too much income. You can still qualify by placing excess income into a pooled Medicaid trust.
4. Qualify with a Pooled Trust
Experts will help determine how much of your income needs to go into a trust for you to qualify for Medicaid. A pooled trust will act as a legal shelter for your excess income. You’ll establish a personal account inside the pooled trust that you can use to pay your own expenses and avoid having more income than Medicaid allows.
5. Submit Your Paperwork to Join a Medicaid Trust
Once you have determined that a Medicaid trust is right for you, you’ll fill out forms to open the trust. Like a bank account, the trust will allow you to deposit your excess income and withdraw it later to pay for covered expenses.
After you join the trust, experts will submit your package to Medicaid, showing that you do not have excess income and can qualify.
6. Manage Your Medicaid Trust Account
Medicaid trust experts will help you set up payment of your monthly bills and other covered expenses directly from your Medicaid account. You can use direct deposit, automatic bill pays, and online functions or deposit funds through mail.
7. Breathe Deep Knowing Your Home Care Costs are Covered
Now is the time to take a deep breath and appreciate that you’re receiving Medicaid Home Care Benefits to stay in your home, and you have a pooled trust account and 24/7 access to experts that can help you manage your covered expenses.