Long Island Medicaid attorneys help you to ensure that you can get Medicaid services if and when you need them. This is far more important than most people realize. Many people believe that once they get older and turn 65, they won’t need to worry about paying for any medical care any more because they’ll be covered by Medicare. Unfortunately, Medicare has high coinsurance costs, limitations on coverage that mean many vital types of care are not covered, and high premiums you may have to pay. 
Medicare is far from a comprehensive solution for paying for senior healthcare, and this is especially true if you require nursing home care. Medicare will not pay for nursing home care except under very limited circumstances so if you don’t have Medicaid to cover the costs of your care, you could be forced to spend your entire life savings on a nursing home. Mark S. Eghrari & Associates, PLLC can help you to ensure you won’t have to worry about losing everything if you get sick by working with you to take steps to get Medicaid to pay your bills if you need them to. We can also help you to avoid common Medicaid planning mistakes that far too many people make, including the following big errors.
Not Realizing You Need a Medicaid Plan
One of the biggest mistakes people make is not realizing they need a Medicaid plan in the first place. The reality is, almost everyone who is getting older and who has any assets should have a Medicaid plan. Medicaid is means-tested so if you have too much wealth, you won’t be able to qualify for benefits unless you’ve impoverished yourself. You likely don’t want to spend every dollar you’ve saved — and even have to sell some of your assets — just to afford medical care. If you’ve made a Medicaid plan in advance of the time you need care, your assets should be safe, you’ll be able to get means-tested benefits you need, and you can get care without worrying about losing the chance to leave a legacy.
Trying to Create a Medicaid Plan on Your Own
The Medicaid planning process is a complicated process. It’s not a process that you should try to handle entirely on your own. You could end up making mistakes that cause you to be disqualified from getting Medicaid coverage. You could also make errors in the steps you take to try to protect your wealth. For example, if you make a living trust and you transfer assets into the trust, you may feel as though you have taken the necessary steps to protect those assets in case you need Medicaid. In reality, the assets held in the living trust still count in determining Medicaid eligibility, so your wealth is still at risk.
Waiting too Long to Make a Medicaid Plan
Waiting is another big problem. Medicaid has a five year lookback rule and if you’ve given away assets or transferred wealth for less than fair market in value in the five years before you try to get Medicaid coverage, you could be temporarily disqualified from receiving benefits. The disqualification length is equal to the number of months determined by dividing the value of transferred or gifted assets by the average monthly cost of a nursing home in your geographical area. You don’t want to cause yourself to be disqualified and have to wait a long time to get Medicaid if you need care right away so you should try to work with a professional well before you need care to protect the maximum value of assets.
Contact Long Island Medicaid Attorneys to Avoid These Key Mistakes
Medicaid planning attorneys at Mark S. Eghrari & Associates, PLLC will help to ensure that you do everything properly so you don’t have to worry about not having a Medicaid plan. We can work with you to determine if you need to make a plan, to decide when the time is right to create your plan, and to make effective use of legal tools to protect as much of your wealth as possible.
Our firm provides help with long-term Medicaid planning, which you should start early if you want to ensure you protect the maximum value of assets. We are also there for you in a crisis if you or a loved one needs to get Medicaid immediately to cover the costs of expensive care. To find out more about how our firm can help you if you require assistance getting qualified for Medicaid coverage, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at (631) 265-0599 or contact us online at any time to get your Medicaid planning underway.
Mark S. Eghrari, Estate Planning Attorney
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