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FDIC Likes Trusts!
If you are concerned about FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) protection for your bank accounts, we have some great news. All of the trusts we have created for our clients meet the FDIC requirements for coverage. This means that if you have a revocable or irrevocable trust with our law firm, your accounts are protected.
The best news is that a married couple that creates a joint trust and lists three children as beneficiaries is protected up to $600,000!
For detailed information, click on the orange bar to the left labled "FDIC Rules for Trusts".
Medicaid for Married Couples
If you are married and your spouse is placed in a nursing home, you may be entitled to Medicaid assistance to pay for his or her bills. To qualify, the government will ask you to provide a detailed list of what you both own, how much it is worth, and how much you owe. You will also be required to explain what you have done with your money and assets, to include gifts, for the 5 years prior to asking for assistance.
In addition, the government will want to know about all types of income that you are both receiving to include Social Security payments, pensions and investment income. Under current law, all of the assets and income of the husband and the wife are considered to determine eligibility for the payment of the sick spouse's care.
Each state is required to set a minimum monthly maintenance needs allowance (known as the MMMNA) for the non-institutionalized or "Community Spouse." As of January 1, 2008, New York State set the amount at $2,610.00. What this means is that the healthy spouse is entitled to keep up to $2,610.00 per month from the combined income of both spouses. The excess must go toward paying the nursing home costs. If your under this amount, there are a number of options that may be available to you.
In addition to income, the healthy spouse is also entitled to keep between $74,820.00 and $104,400.00 in assets. All other assets will need to be used toward the costs of the sick spouse's nursing home before the Medicaid program will pay for the sick spouse's care.
In addition to the above, there are certain exemptions or "non-countable assets" that you may be allowed to keep or at least use. However, the rules and regulations in this area of the law are complex and difficult. Without a careful review of your situation by a knowledgeable attorney, simply applying the above rules yourself may lead to the loss of your assets and denial of services by Medicaid.
WARNING: Any gift that you make 5 years prior to requesting assistance, other than to your spouse, may cause you to be ineligible for Medicaid for the amount of the gift. The definition of a gift is very broad. Gifts to family members, donations to charitable and religious organizations, the sale of your assets for less than fair market value, and transfers of real estate are just a few of the many types of "gifts" that may cause you to be ineligible. Misinformation abounds in this area. One misconception is that you are allowed to give up to $12,000 per person per year. It is not true for Medicaid purposes. The $12,000 per person per year applies to Gift Taxes, not Medicaid. Such gifts may make you ineligible for Medicaid if made less than 5 years before requesting assistance.
Planning for the possibility of long term care is more important than ever. The sad truth is that if you live long enough, you will need someone to take care of you and it may destroy everything you have built during a life time. The good news is that there are many options available to you and your family. The key is early planning while you are healthy. Our law firm can help you with this critical planning.
WARNING: Medicaid eligibility is a complex matter requiring the application of numerous rules and regulations to your particular situation. In addition, Medicaid rules are different from state to state and are always subject to change. This information is provided as general information and should not be relied upon as legal advice. If you have questions, we invite you to call our office.
Do you have a HIPAA?
The Federal Government passed a law in 1996 to protect the health insurance benefits of employees when they transfered from one company to another. The law is known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The purpose of the law was to stop group health insurance companies from looking at a new employee's medical records and denying them insurance in the new employer's group health plan.
Although the primary purpose of HIPAA was to protect the "portability" of heath insurance benefits, the law also contained a variety of medical information privacy protections as well. For many years the law's application was limited to group health insurance plans. However, in 2006, the privacy protections of the law were actively applied to all medical information to the point where now everything about your medical condition and treatment is considered top secret.
You Need a HIPAA Authorization and Release
Without a HIPAA Authorization and Release, your spouse, children and family may be unable to obtain any information about you, including whether you are even in a particular hospital! Even if you have named an agent in a New York Health Care Proxy, without a HIPAA Authorization and Release, no one is allowed to receive any medical information about you. The law has made things very complicated for families, hospitals, care providers and insurance companies.
A HIPAA Authorization and Release allows you to say who has authority to request and receive your personal medical information. Unfortunately, when HIPAA was enacted, a standard federal authorization and release form was not made part of the law. As a result, each institution has developed its own particular form. Often times, unless you sign the "right" authorization or release, your family and loved ones will be told that the information cannot be released. Sadly, there have been reported instances where even a spouse, named as a Health Care Proxy, was denied information.
In response to the confusion HIPAA has cause, our law firm has developed a detailed HIPAA Authorization and Release that is now a companion document to your New York State Health Care Proxy. It meets the requirements of HIPAA for hospitals, care providers and insurance companies to allow the release of your medical information.
If you do not have a detailed HIPAA Authorization and Release, we highly recommend that you put one in place as soon as possible. Please write or call our office for more details.