In Missouri, Medicaid is called Mo HealthNet. Most people simple refer to it as Medicaid. In order to understand Medicaid qualifications, you first need to know how Medicaid treats your assets. Basically, Medicaid breaks your assets down into two separate categories. The first are those assets that are exempt (non-countable) and the second are those assets which are non-exempt (countable).
Exempt assets are those that Medicaid will not take into account (at least for the time being). Listed below are the following assets that are generally exempt.
- The Home (so long as the equity is not greater than $552,000 in 2015). The home must be the principle place of residence. The nursing home resident may be required to show some “intent to return home,” even if this never actually takes place.
- Household and personal belongings, such as furniture appliances, jewelry and clothing.
- One vehicle, there may be some limitation on value.
- Prepaid funeral plans OR life insurance policies. If the life insurance policies have cash value, then all of the policies added together cannot exceed $1,500. If the cash value exceeds $1,500, then any amount over $1,500 is considered a countable asset. Term life insurance does not have cash value and is not countable.
- A Checking Account – The amount in the checking account added to the cash value of life insurance policy(ies) that is over $1,500, cannot exceed $2,999.
However, that the State’s Estate Recovery Unit will recoup payments made on behalf of a Medicaid recipient after the death of the recipient and the recipient’s spouse (if they are married). See Estate Recovery: More Aggressive Than Ever for more information.
All other assets are countable. Total countable assets may not exceed $2,999 to qualify for Medicaid. This includes money in checking accounts, cash value of insurance policies over $1,500, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, money market accounts, stocks, mutual funds, bonds, IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions, second cars and so on. While there are some minor exceptions to these rules, for the most part, all money and property, as well as any item that can be valued and turned into cash is a countable asset, unless it is one of those listed earlier as exempt.
Medicaid is a joint Federal and State run program. This means there are Federal AND State laws, rules, and policies that apply. Needless to say, this makes navigating Medicaid is extremely complex and should not be undertaken by the faint of heart.
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