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Medicaid: Transitioning from skilled nursing to assisted living If you have a loved one who is being cared for in a skilled nursing facility and is receiving Medicaid benefits, and that person no longer needs to be in skilled nursing (but cannot live on their own or is unable to come home), they may be able to transfer to an assisted living facility and
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Beware “Medicaid Planners” who are not attorneys You should NEVER have an attorney tell you that they can guarantee your Medicaid application is approved. You should NEVER have an attorney tell you they are an “expert” in elder law or special needs planning unless they have been Board certified by the state of Florida. And if you come across a non-attorney who tells you
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Medicaid Reform in Florida Under the Medicaid reform laws, Medicaid recipients are required to sign up for a new health plan within 30 days of being notified that it is time to pick a health plan. All Medicaid recipients are required to enroll in a managed care plan unless specifically exempted. Medicaid recipients which are exempted from enrolling include those with developmental disabilities, those
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What is an Annuity? An annuity is an insurance product whose primary purpose is to pay income to an individual. It is generally used as part of a retirement plan. An individual will invest a certain sum of money for the promise that payments will be made to the individual at a future date. These payments can be made monthly, annually or in a
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There was an article in the Tampa Bay Times on Sunday, February 24, 2013 – (view article) discussing DCF’s proposal of a bill that targets Florida Medicaid fraud among those trying to hide their assets. Once again, DCF is trying to use scare tactics to hurt the most vulnerable population and would attempt to make legislators believe that individuals regularly transfer hundreds of thousands of
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What is an Elder law attorney? An Elder Law Attorney explains….When I started my own practice, like most attorneys who open their own office, I took on all sorts of cases. I took on divorces, child custody, personal injury, adoptions, probates, wills – I did a little bit of everything because I was just starting my practice and I needed every case that walked
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Top 10 things you need to know about Florida Nursing Home Medicaid: Your homestead is protected from creditors. Creditors include the nursing home and Medicaid liens (not so in other states, like Ohio, that force you to sell your house if you or your dependent do not lived in it for at least 6 months, in which case, it must be sold and the proceeds of
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Florida Homestead and Medicaid: What You Need to Know Florida is one of a few states that has a very broad homestead protection. Florida’s Constitution states that a person’s homestead is protected from their creditors (this includes nursing home or other medical bills). You hear stories about the nursing home forcing someone to sign their house over to them or forcing them to sell the
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Medicaid and Qualified Income Trusts in Florida Applying for Medicaid benefits to pay for nursing home care in Florida can be a confusing process. The person applying must meet certain asset and income limits. For example, you may not have more than $2,000 in assets if you are applying for benefits. Certain assets are considered “exempt” meaning their value does not count against the
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The Florida Senate has created a web page for people to give their views and get more information on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The page was made public on December 10th and can be visited at http://www.flsenate.gov/topics/ppaca. The page allows you to submit your comments for input on the state level, and to write to your Congressional Representatives or Senator on
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