Long-term care Medicaid covers nursing home
care, care in the home by personal attendant through the waiver program,
adult day health care, and MR group homes.
INCOME LIMITS FOR INDIVIDUAL: $1809 gross per month
While Louisiana is an income cap state, those with more
income than the
cap can still qualify if certain conditions are met. Income consists
of pensions, social security or SSI, monthly annuity
payments, retirement or pension payments, VA checks,
oil and gas royalty payments, interest income, farm income, wages from
employment, rental or lease income, etc. When
there is a spouse, only the income of the applicant
is considered for eligibility purposes.
MONTHLY MAINTENANCE NEEDS ALLOWANCE: $2,488.50
This
is the maximum amount of the institutionalized person’s monthly income
that can be kept by the community spouse. Example: Mr. A in the nursing
home has $2500 in income. Mrs. A at home has social security of $600.
Monthly Maintenance Needs
Allowance: $2488.50
Mrs. A’s Social
Security - 600
$1888.50 is the amount of Mr. A’s income that Mrs. A gets to keep.
RESOURCE LIMITS FOR INDIVIDUAL: $2000
This is the maximum amount of total assets or resources
that an individual can own to qualify for long-term care Medicaid and
this includes checking and savings accounts, CDs, stocks and bonds, money
market accounts, appraised value of any property other than home property,
certain annuities and other investment accounts, certain retirement accounts
if surrender value is available to applicant, the cash value of life insurance
with face value greater than $10,000 (or lesser face value if there is
pre-need burial policy), the appraised value of boats, campers, trailers,
or RVs, contents of safety deposit box, and anything else of monetary
value.
RESOURCE LIMITS FOR COUPLES: $99,540
This is the maximum amount of total assets or resources
that a couple can own to qualify for long-term care Medicaid and it includes
all of the items stated above.
EXEMPT RESOURCES:
- Home property up to 160 contiguous acres together with all
houses and buildings (This is subject to change to a $500,000 limit because
of changes in Medicaid policy at the national level that is expected
to be adopted by the state of Louisiana.)
- One vehicle of any value
- Life insurance with face value of $10,000 or less per person
(if there is no pre-need policy)
- Irrevocable pre-need burial policy of any reasonable value
- Personal and household belongings
- Burial plot, crypt, headstone, mausoleum, etc.
hese resources are not counted as part of the total available
resources to determine eligibility for long-term care Medicaid. In
other words, their value is exempt from consideration at the
time of eligibility as long as they are not sold. However, it is possible
that these assets could be subject to estate recovery after the applicant’s
death. |
