Elder Law - Medicaid Planning - Wills - Trusts - Probate - Guardianship

Sometimes What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You!

Lynn O. Liam was slowly wheeling herself down Hall 4 of the St. Peter’s Nursing Home, which she had come to know as home over the last four months. This day wasn’t any different than any other day, except that as she was passing by Room 211, where Marsha Mellow lived, she glanced in her room and was instantly green with envy. There in the corner of Marsha’s room was a brand new RJ-7000 Reclining Lift Chair, and it was the 2005 model! Lynn had seen commercials for this chair on TV and only dreamed of having one herself. She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw it there in Marsha’s room. And not only that, Marsha also had a very nice, fairly new TV and VCR in her room, and she was watching one of her favorite old movies with Paige Turner, her personal caregiver hired by her only child who lived out of state! How could it be that Marsha had a new reclining chair, a TV and VCR, and a caregiver! From Lynn’s point of view, Marsha had it all. “How is it that some people have all the luck?”, she thought to herself.

Lynn’s family was trying their hardest to make sure that all of her needs were provided for, and in reality her basic needs truly were being met. She was comfortable there at St. Peter’s, and it wasn’t that she was lacking in anything, she just wasn’t able to have all of the “extras” that Marsha down the hall had. Lynn’s children were not financially blessed, and they were doing their best to take care of their mother. They had actually done some research themselves on what the qualifications were for Medicaid, and with the $47,000 that their mother had in the bank, they just knew that until that money was depleted and her account was down to less than $2,000, she could not qualify for Medicaid. Therefore, as each month went by, the account dropped more and more with check after check to St. Peter’s for $3,400. The children, particularly her oldest son, Peter O. Liam, hated to see Mom’s hard-earned money spent on her care, but because of what they understood about Medicaid, as far as they knew they had no other choice.

What Lynn didn’t know was that Marsha Mellow was actually ON MEDICAID! Years before, Marsha and her children had gone to see a knowledgeable elder law attorney to plan ahead in the event that Marsha needed nursing home care. Although it wasn’t a concern at the time, they knew that it was a realistic future possibility. Marsha’s husband had passed away and Marsha just didn’t have the physical strength that she had in previous years. The attorney was able to offer correct and thorough counsel to the family, and because the family followed his advice in planning ahead and gifting money for reserves and getting all of her affairs in order, she was able to have these luxuries that so many of the other nursing home residents weren’t able to have.

One of the more prevalent myths about Medicaid, which the Liam family was believing, was that Lynn’s money could only be spent down by paying the nursing home. But in reality, her money could have been spent on and reserved for all of these luxuries that Lynn dreamed of. She too could have had that expensive chair, nice TV and VCR and her very own caregiver!

. . . So Lynn continued wheeling her way down Hall 4, as it was just about time for lunch. And her day went on as usual - nothing special.

Touch of Humor: When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.

CAVEAT: Some Medicaid qualification rules and DHS “interpretations” have recently changed and more changes are being contemplated by a special congressional committee and by an Oklahoma legislative committee.

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