Five Medicaid Myths

My goal is to dispel the Medicaid Myths:

1. Myth: “Medicare will cover my nursing home bill."

The Truth: Medicare only covers a small amount of the nursing home care provided in this country. Many older people are surprised to learn this. Medicare provides 20 days of full coverage if you spent at least three days in the hospital and need skilled care (not intermediate level care). Then, if you still need skilled care, you can get up to 80 days of partial coverage from Medicare, the co-pay will usually be picked up by your supplemental insurance. After that, you will either pay by your savings, your long-term care insurance or get Medicaid.

2. Myth: “Only substandard nursing homes participate in Medicaid.”

The Truth: Only a few Maryland nursing homes do not have Medicaid certified beds. The vast majority do.

3. Myth: “I will get better care if I private pay.”

The Truth: It is illegal to treat Medicaid patients less well than private pay patients and it is illegal to discriminate against Medicaid patients. There may be no “Medicaid wing” and no public identification of a “Medicaid bed.” Typically, the staff does not know which patient is a Medicaid recipient.

4. Myth: “If I enter a nursing home as a private pay resident, I must use up my assets before I can get Medicaid.”

The Truth: You are not required to “spend down” your assets to pay for the nursing home care. However, some nursing homes might try to make you believe that you do. You do have legal options. Informed people seek advice from an elder law attorney to decide if they wish to have Medicaid pay the bill before having spent a significant part of their assets.

5. Myth: “I can only ‘spend-down’ my assets on medical or nursing home bills.”

The Truth: See # 4 above. Nursing homes may tell you that you have to spend your savings on the nursing home bill before applying for Medicaid, but this is not true. In fact, it’s against the law for them to tell you this!