What Does An Elder Law Medicaid Attorney Do?
Elder Law Medicaid Attorneys, also known as Medicaid Attorneys, or Elder Care Lawyers are Estate Planning Lawyers who focus on the financial and legal issues that affect the elderly and their families, including long-term care. Elder Law Medicaid Attorneys help older adults and their families with will and trust-based estate planning, incapacity planning, and Medicaid long-term care planning. Elder Law Medicaid Attorneys Hеlp Families Protect Their Lifе Savings And Homes By Qualifying Elderly Loved Ones For Medicaid To Pay For Expensive Nursing Home Care Typically, families seek the help of an Elder Law Medicaid Attorney when an elderly family member needs to plan for expensive nursing home care. In Michigan, the average cost of long-term care is $108,000 per year. This is roughly $8,000-$9,000 per month. 
An Elder Law Medicaid Attorney can help a family create a long-term care Medicaid Planning strategy to pay for nursing home care without losing their life savings and home. This can either be done pro-actively, prior to the need for nursing home care, or more commonly in emergency situations due to a sudden illness or injury.
Elder Law Medicaid Attorneys are experienced in a variety of Medicaid Planning strategies to help your loved ones qualify and apply for Medicaid to pay for their long-term care. Elder Law Attorneys can be helpful in many ways, including: A Medicaid Attorney Can Help You Meet Medicaid’s Income and Asset Limits To qualify for Medicaid, an applicant needs to meet very specific financial eligibility requirements, including income and asset limits. Applying for Medicaid is very challenging for any applicant over the required limits. 
However, not meeting these limits does not necessarily disqualify you from applying for Medicaid…
There are Medicaid Planning techniques that an Elder Law Medicaid Attorney uses to lower a person’s countable income or assets to meet the financial eligibility requirements. Medicaid Attorneys help applicants identify and implement the proper strategy based on the applicant’s unique situation so that Medicaid will pay for long-term care without the applicant having to lose their life savings or home in the process.   An Elder Law Medicaid Attorney Makes Plans To Protect Your Home And Life Savings There are many different Medicaid Planning strategies that can be utilized to protect the savings and home of your elderly loved one depending on their unique circumstances. We won’t cover every single strategy in the this article, but we will discuss some of the more common circumstances. Medicaid Planning strategies are very complicated to plan for and difficult to implement, which is why it is important to seek the assistance of a Medicaid Attorney. Their understanding of the law can help you design and implement a Medicaid long-term plan legally and effectively.  Medicaid Attorney Pre-Planning Strategies Some strategies an Elder Law Medicaid Attorney can help with are done pro-actively, before your elderly family member needs long-term care. This is typically called Medicaid Pre-Planning. One of the pro-active strategies that can be used is the Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT). 
MAPTs help Medicaid applicants qualify within Medicaid’s stringent asset limits. This type of trust needs to be carefully planned for by an Elder Law Medicaid Attorney to make sure that the transfer of assets into the MAPT doesn’t delay or hurt the applicant’s ability to qualify for long-term care benefits in the future. Emergency Crisis Planning With An Elder Law Medicaid Attorney Oftentimes, injury or illness comes out of nowhere and your family doesn’t have the luxury of being able to pre-plan for expensive nursing home care with the use of an MAPT. Sometimes, a family member is in a facility, but is running out of funds to pay for the high cost of care. In these situations, families are often looking for a quick solution to pay for a nursing home when money runs out. 
In these cases, qualifying for Medicaid quickly is incredibly important so you don’t lose your life savings or home just to pay for nursing home care in an emergency. This is commonly referred to as a Medicaid crisis.
In these situations, a Medicaid Attorney can use different Medicaid Crisis Planning strategies to help your family quickly structure your income and assets to qualify for Medicaid in an emergency. While there are more options available to you the earlier you plan, it’s important to understand that an Elder Law Medicaid Planning Attorney can still help you qualify for Medicaid to pay for long-term care costs in an emergency.  Qualifying For Home Care
What if you prefer to provide home care for your elderly loved one so that they can remain in their own home for as long as possible? Most states have waiver programs that still allow your elderly loved one to qualify Medicaid while receiving long-term care in the home. An Elder Law Medicaid Attorney will know the state specific waiver programs your loved one can qualify for and can help you apply for these programs as well.   Maximize Income And Assets For A Non-Applicant Spouse
In some cases, a Medicaid applicant is married and their spouse will remain at home. The spouse that remains at home is known as the non-applicant spouse, community spouse, or well spouse. To avoid the non-applicant spouse from becoming impoverished in an attempt to help the applicant spouse qualify for Medicaid, the federal government has spousal impoverishment rules to protect the healthy spouse’s assets. Medicaid Attorneys help married couples maximize the amount of assets under joint-ownership that the non-applicant spouse can retain and also helps maximize the monthly income that an applicant spouse can transfer to the non-applicant spouse. Elder Law Medicaid Attorneys Assist With The Medicaid Application
One of the Elder Law Medicaid Attorney’s main tasks is to assist Medicaid applicants with the labor-intensive and often complicated application process after the Medicaid Plan has been established and agreed upon by the applicant and their family. The attorney will help you fill out the paperwork, provide the necessary documentation, and apply for Medicaid. Medicaid applications are very complicated and an improperly filled out form or improperly structured income and assets can result in a Medicaid denial that could take months, or potentially years to correct. This is why it is so important to work with an experienced professional when applying for Medicaid to pay for long-term care. Elder Law Medicaid Attorneys Assist With The Medicaid Application
One of the Elder Law Medicaid Attorney’s main tasks is to assist Medicaid applicants with the labor-intensive and often complicated application process after the Medicaid Plan has been established and agreed upon by the applicant and their family. The attorney will help you fill out the paperwork, provide the necessary documentation, and apply for Medicaid. Medicaid applications are very complicated and an improperly filled out form or improperly structured income and assets can result in a Medicaid denial that could take months, or potentially years to correct. This is why it is so important to work with an experienced professional when applying for Medicaid to pay for long-term care. Do You Need An Elder Law Medicaid Attorney?
A rule of thumb with Medicaid is that you should not apply until you have a plan in place to qualify. Applying too early can mean a longer wait for Medicaid qualification than necessary, while applying too late can mean having to pay for months of care you may not have had to pay. Additionally, an inaccurate application or not having your assets structured properly can result in a Medicaid denial. An Medicaid Attorney in Iowa can help you in the following ways: Apply And Qualify For Benefits Fast, Or Appeal If You've Been Denied Qualify For Benefits By Legally Structuring Your Income And Assets According To Medicaid's Rules Get Benefits Quickly During A Financial Medicaid Crisis Protect Your Family House From Being Taken By Medicaid Make Sure The Healthy Spouse Has Money To Survive Preserve Wealth And Plan For Incapacity What's The Cost Of Medicaid Planning?
Some of the factors that impact the cost of Medicaid Planning include: The Medicaid applicant’s marital status The applicant’s age Spouses’ and children’s age and health status Financial situation, including amount and types of assets and income Whether the need for Medicaid is urgent If there have been any asset gifting in the past Whether estate planning documents are in place
Because every Medicaid Planning situation is different, an experienced Medicaid attorney in Iowa offers a free initial consultation with an Elder Law Medicaid Planning Attorney to help you determine if Medicaid Planning is right for you. The initial consultation allows you to help understand your current Medicaid eligibility.