WHAT IS MEDICAID PLANNING?

What exactly is Medicaid Planning? This is a common question my partner and I are asked. Medicaid Planning is a practice in which we assist our client who is either a current patient or a future patient of a Medicaid facility to use existing laws and financial tools available in order for the patient to qualify for assistance with the costs of his or her long-term care expenses from the Medicaid program.

Our goal in the practice of Medicaid Planning is to pass on as much wealth to our client's heirs as possible and to not have those assets re-captured by the state at the client's death. This goal became a little more difficult to achieve when the Deficit Reduction Act was passed in 2005. The Act made Medicaid Planning more complex and dramatically affected the available strategies. For this reason, it is extremely important for clients seeking Medicaid eligibility to talk with a professional well-versed in the current Medicaid rules that has the knowledge and skill to work through the complex rules and strategize a successful plan.