Medicaid Planning, Crisis, & Qualification

Medicaid Planning

Medicaid planning is taking the necessary steps now to ensure that if the need for long-term care (nursing home or assisted living) should arise for you, you will be eligible for Medicaid to pay for it. Medicaid planning requires you follow specific rules that if not followed properly, can disqualify you from benefits for a period longer than you would have to be. Our Medicaid planning program is not a mechanism to give away all of your assets to ensure you qualify for Medicaid, but rather an overall planning strategy that follows the rules of law so you can legally retain what you need to maintain your lifestyle and become eligible for Medicaid without having to lose your lifetime of assets. We invite you to attend one of our Medicaid planning workshops to identify how you can protect all you’ve worked for and still be eligible to receive benefits under state federal guidelines.

Medicaid Crisis

Often times people come to us because their loved one needs to enter a skilled nursing facility and they are afraid of losing everything to the high cost of long-term care. Most people think they have to spend their entire life savings before Medicaid will help cover the cost of long-term care. This is not the case. Even in crisis situations, it may be possible to protect some of your assets and still qualify for Medicaid long-term care benefits. The laws and the process for Medicaid qualification are extremely complex and can make a difficult situation even harder.

If your loved one has to enter a skill nursing facility, Orca Law Group can help your loved one qualify for Medicaid long-term care benefits and make a difficult situation a little bit less difficult.

Medicaid Qualification

Unlike Medicaid planning, Medicaid qualification is the actual process of applying for the benefit to ensure Medicaid will actually begin paying for your care. The completion of the application is extensive and the process for approval, in the best-case scenario, takes several months.

Often hospitals and nursing homes will offer to apply for Medicaid for you at no cost. Be careful, they don’t represent you, they represent the best interest for the institution they work for. Even with the best intentions, they often do not have the legal knowledge necessary to determine whether or not your qualification is accurate. We can often get Medicaid benefits awarded when they can’t.

This is where we can really be of value and often times able to get you benefits sooner and protect more of your assets. Don’t do it alone. Let us handle your Medicaid qualification for you and protect your legal rights, so you can attend to your family member.