… California is eliminating the asset test for Medicaid coverage and only considering annual income for eligibility. So you could own $100 million worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock and still get the taxpayers to cover your nursing home.
Like “free Obamacare”, big tax breaks ain’t just for inherited wealth and billionaires.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/health/elderly-medicare-m…
Medicaid, the state and federal program that provides health care for the poor and for people with disabilities, and also pays for long-term care in nursing homes and at home, sets strict ceilings on recipients’ wealth. In most states, if you are older than 65, you can amass no more than $2,000 in assets, or $3,000 for a couple (usually with a home and a car exempted).
“It makes people live in very deep poverty,” unable to save for emergencies or even modest expenditures, said Amber Christ, director of health care policy and advocacy for Justice in Aging. “If you go over the limit by a dollar, you lose eligibility.”
California will abolish this ceiling in two steps. In July, the asset limit rises to $130,000 for an individual and another $65,000 for each family member. In July 2024, the state will discard asset limits altogether. If you are older or disabled, you will qualify for Medi-Cal (as California calls its Medicaid program) if your income does not exceed 138 percent of the federal poverty level. The state estimates that about 17,000 residents will become newly eligible.
intercst
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California is eliminating the asset test for Medicaid coverage and only considering annual income for eligibility. So you could own $100 million worth of Berkshire Hathaway stock and still get the taxpayers to cover your nursing home.
It might pay off if California also charged a 100% Estate Tax up to the total amount paid by the state for the decedent’s nursing home, plus interest on each month’s expense forward from the date the decedent entered the home until the day they die.
Of course, if the nursing care is decent and the state really doesn’t go after assets, I can imagine a few folks may decide to pack their bags and move to California for their final years.
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I can imagine a few folks may decide to pack their bags and move to California for their final years.
I suspect that such is a rather small number. If you have seven figures or more of net worth, I would imagine you are unlikely to want to reside in a state medicaid facility vs some other more comfortable option.
If you have ever visited a medicaid recipient in a nursing home - it can quickly cure you of any desire to ever share in that experience. My step-father’s mother was in such for the better part of a decade and I have nothing but bad memories of that place.
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Hawkwin analyzes,
If you have ever visited a medicaid recipient in a nursing home - it can quickly cure you of any desire to ever share in that experience. My step-father’s mother was in such for the better part of a decade and I have nothing but bad memories of that place.
Nursing home quality is dependent on state regulation. I’ve had family members in medicaid-eligible Connecticut nursing homes that were fine. I’d sleep in my car before I’d go to a nursing home in Texas.
intercst
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Nursing home quality is dependent on state regulation. I’ve had family members in medicaid-eligible Connecticut nursing homes that were fine.
Sure, if you don’t mind sharing a room with the crazy screaming lady that lives six feet away from you. Sure, if you don’t mind having to smell their feces until the nurse comes in to change that person.
Even in Connecticut, Medicaid doesn’t pay for a private room.
Hawkwin
Who recalls visiting his relative while the person in the next bed would randomly scream nonsensically.
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