Do You Qualify for Medicaid for Long-Term Care in Virginia?

One of the biggest myths about qualifying for Medicaid for long-term care is that you have to be poor. This is simply not true. However, unless you understand how to qualify, you may needlessly lose your home and drain all of your retirement savings.

On the other hand, when you understand the Virginia Medicaid eligibility rules and apply them to your circumstances, you will most likely qualify to have Medicaid pay for long term care in a Virginia nursing home, rehabilitation facility, or even in your own home.

Qualifying for Medicaid for Long Term Care in Virginia

Virginia Medicaid is a means-tested program. This means that in order to qualify, you must meet certain needs-based eligibility requirements.

To qualify for Virginia Medicaid to pay for long term care, you must meet the following standards:

• Program Requirements – You must reside in Virginia and be a US citizen or lawful resident alien. In addition, you must be age 65 or older, disabled, blind, pregnant, under age 19, or a parent living with a child under 18.
• An Income Test – Generally, an individual must earn less than $2,313 per month (as of December 2019) to qualify for Medicaid. Additionally, an individual could qualify for Medicaid as “Medically Needy” as defined by the Virginia Medicaid Manual, if an individual has income in excess of $2,313 per month (as of December 2019), but the individual does not have sufficient income to cover their uninsured medical expenses. If you are married and your spouse is not applying for Medicaid, there is a different set of standards based on a Medicaid concept called the Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMMNA). An experienced Medicaid planning attorney can explain MMMNA to you in detail during your consultation.
• Medicaid’s Asset Test – You must have less than $2,000 in what Medicaid considers countable assets. Again, if you have a non-Medicaid spouse, the rules are somewhat different due to the “anti spousal impoverishment standards” that your attorney can discuss with you during your consultation.
• The Needs Test – You must demonstrate a need for long term care, meaning that you must demonstrate a need for assistance with doing things like walking, standing, getting in and out of bed, dressing, bathing, feeding, toileting, or performing other activities of daily living.

Medicaid’s Look-Back Period

When you apply to Medicaid for assistance with paying for long-term care, Medicaid is entitled to scrutinize any transaction you made in the 5 years prior to applying. This is referred to as Medicaid’s look-back period.

If during the look-period, you transferred or gave away any assets for less than fair market value, you will be assessed a penalty period based on the value of the transaction in question. During this penalty period, you will NOT be eligible to receive long-term care assistance from Medicaid and will need to pay for any long-term care costs out of your own pocket.

Medicaid’s look-back period and the associated penalty period are meant to discourage Medicaid applicants from giving away valuable resources just to qualify for Medicaid. An experienced Medicaid planning attorney can advise you on ways you can protect assets in a Medicaid-compliant manner that does not trigger a Medicaid look-back penalty.

How Working With an Experienced Virginia Medicaid Planning Attorney Can Help

Most people are unaware that Medicaid is not just for low-income individuals. Medicaid is also for middle and upper-class individuals who have worked hard to save for retirement, only to find out that all of their planning and saving will still not be enough to afford the high costs associated with long term care, if and when they or a loved one needs it. Medicaid planning attorneys help these people to become better able to afford long-term care by qualifying for assistance through Medicaid.

An experienced Medicaid planning attorney can develop a combination of strategies to help you pay the extremely high cost of long-term care for yourself or a loved one and protect your assets from having to be spent down until there is nothing left to pass on to your heirs. This form of planning, in turn, can provide you and your family with a sense of control and much-needed peace of mind at a time of great need.

Contact an Experienced Virginia Medicaid Planning attorney

Our experienced Virginia Medicaid planning attorneys work diligently with people who don’t qualify to have Medicaid pay for long-term care because they have too much income or assets. We can provide you with legal and ethical strategies to get you eligible in accordance with Medicaid eligibility rules. For more information, please feel free to contact Speedwell Law, PLLC at (703) 553-2577 or [email protected]. We look forward to answering your questions and helping you and your family navigate this challenging time.

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The information on this site is for general informational purposes only. The information presented in this site is not legal advice or a legal opinion. You should seek the advice of legal counsel of your choice before acting upon any of the information in this site.