Giving to Your Religious Organization can Hurt You at the Nursing Home!

Your mother has tithed (gifted) to her religious organization in the amount of $50 per week for years. Additionally, she has given her 10 grandchildren $20 every Christmas and on each of their birthdays. Thus, she has made charitable and small family gifts totaling $15,000 throughout the course of the last five years. Your mother has savings of less than $2,000 and now requires nursing home care. Therefore, your mother will qualify for Medicaid benefits to help pay for her care.

However, she will not qualify for benefits because all gifts, even small ones, even charitable gifts, made within the five-year look-back period are lumped together to create a penalty period. In her case, the penalty period is 2.2 months. Since she does not have sufficient savings to cover the $15,000 penalty period, she may be unable to obtain the care she needs or the nursing home may not be paid.

To avoid these types of issues contact our office.