Okay! I’ve got to stop trying to post an update of this information right after the first of the year. Too many of these financial eligibility limits trickle out during January.
So, here’s an update of my early January 2017 post.
The Medicaid program helps pay for long term care (nursing home, assisted living, or in-home care) for many seniors. The Medicaid rules allow the patient and the patient’s spouse to keep certain amounts of their savings and certain amounts from their monthly income. As of January 2017, Ohio’s Medicaid program allows the following amounts:
Savings patient can keep: $2,000
Savings spouse at home can keep: $24,180 – $120,900
Monthly income patient can keep: $50
Monthly income allowance for spouse: $2,003 – $3,023
Monthly housing allowance for spouse at home: $601
Monthly utility allowance for spouse at home: $513
What Medicaid pays nursing homes each month: $6,570
Limit on equity in home: $560,000
Monthly gross income above $2,205 triggers the need for a Qualified Income Trust (aka Miller Trust)
Note: Because this information is an update of the Medicaid “financial standards,” it also appears on my website’s Medicaid page.
P.S. I’ll try to remember to publish the 2018 values in February next year rather than rushing to publish in early January and then having to correct myself.