Can an Elder Law attorney help with Medicaid? Yes, the attorney can choose to include this practice area for their elderly clients. MarketWatch’s recent article entitled, “What does an elder law Medicaid attorney do?” explains that an elder law attorney specializes in the needs of older adults, particularly when the need for long-term care arises. Beck, Lenox & Stolzer Estate Planning and Elder Law has been providing Medicaid planning and crisis planning for its clients for over 20 years and is highly regarded for our knowledge and guidance in this area.
The financial rules for Medicaid coverage are complicated and state-specific. In Missouri, an individual’s asset limit is $5,301.85 in savings and investments for 2022. Other states may differ in the asset amount allowed.
Planning to use Medicaid to pay for long-term care is also complicated by the fact that, while its coverage of nursing home care is comprehensive, its payment for home care and assisted living facility fees is only partial and differs both from state to state. In Missouri, a very small Medicaid grant of $292 per month is provided for assisted living. A Medicaid benefit called Supplemental Nursing Care may extend that amount, on average, an additional $200 – $400 per month.
An elder law Medicaid attorney knows and understands the Medicaid requirements, which are very specific. The elder law Medicaid attorney can also help you with this application process if that part of services offered.
Medicaid is only available after a person has depleted almost all their assets. An elder law attorney can use techniques to lower an applicant’s countable income or assets. That will help make the applicant eligible, while protecting their life savings and home at the same time.
In addition, an elder law Medicaid attorney can help with basic estate planning. In particular, a durable power of attorney for health care is a legal document that lets your designated agent or proxy make medical decisions for you, if incapacitated. All elder law attorneys are estate planners. Many estate planning attorneys, however, are not elder law attorneys.
Another document is a living will, which is designed to apply only in very limited situations when you have an incurable or irreversible medical condition or conditions that will most likely will result in your death within a short period of time. Beck, Lenox & Stolzer incorporates the living will provisions into our durable power of attorney for health care so you only have one document to deal with, instead of two.
A living will can address life-sustaining treatments, such as ventilators, nutrition via a feeding tube and cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or other extraordinary measures. It can also address issues like pain management and palliative care.
If you are looking for an elder law attorney to help with Medicaid or any other areas related to the aging process, you can find an elder law attorney at this directory. You can also contact Beck, Lenox & Stolzer here.
Reference: MarketWatch (Oct. 4, 2022) “What does an elder law Medicaid attorney do?”
