Title 19 - Medicaid (Connecticut)

Medicaid is a federal and state cooperative program that provides medical assistance for low income people.  In Connecticut, the program is administered by the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS).

I’m currently assisting two clients with what I call the “Medicaid maze”, and the more I learn about Medicaid eligibility, the more questions I have.  I thought I had a pretty good Medicaid background.  I met with one of my clients and his attorney several times to learn about “protecting” assets and “spending down” assets.  Unfortunately, even though we put an initial plan together, for various reasons the plan was never implemented.  Now I am scrambling to assist my client with helping to protect some of his assets and to apply for Medicaid.

In Connecticut, to qualify for Title 19, if you are married and in a nursing home and your spouse is living at home, you may have $1,600 in assets and your spouse may have up to $109,560 of assets.  If you have more than the qualifying amount, you must “spend down” your assets (there is an exception if you have a long term care policy under the Connecticut Partnership for Long Term Care).  When spending down your assets, you may want to consider prepaying funeral arrangements, making improvements to your home, or purchasing a new car.  Irrevocable burial funds (maximum of $5,400 per individual), residences in which the individual has an equity interest of less than $758,000, and one motor vehicle is excluded from the applicant or the applicant’s spouse's assets. 

The DSS will review your bank statements for the past 60 months prior to your application for eligibility to determine if any assets were transferred (gifted).  The transferring of assets may result in a penalty period.  During this period, institutionalized individuals will not be eligible for Medicaid.

An individual in a nursing home is allowed to keep $60 of his/her monthly income for a personal needs allowance.  The spouse who lives in the community is allowed to keep a Minimum Monthly Needs Allowance (MMNA) which ranges from $1,838.75 to $2,739.00. 

The purpose of this blog is not to teach you everything about Medicaid; instead, the purpose is to give you an idea about the complexities of Medicaid eligibility and the assets/income that the community spouse may keep.  I can assist you with pulling the financial documentation together that you will need to properly plan for Medicaid eligibility and asset protection.  However, I strongly recommend that you hire an attorney that specializes in Medicaid to work with you.  I have been working with Attorney Mark Maniscalco to assist me and my clients with the Medicaid maze.  Mark was a probate judge in Connecticut for four years and is now specializing in Medicaid.  If you have any questions about Medicaid, please feel free to contact me or Attorney Maniscalco.