Re: Medicaid or Medicare

[Guest guest]

Bev in Iowa wrote:

" " Here the person that really gets stuck is the surviving at-home

spouse, usually a woman with no pension of her own except maybe Soc.

Sec.(Many male at-home spouses have military or company pensions

besides Soc. Sec.to live on) If her husband is in a nursing home on

Medicaid, his Soc. Sec. and pensions go toward his care. She may

have a house and car, but the typical spouse in that case has a very

small Soc. Sec. check due to working in low wage jobs, opting out of

the job market to care for children or family members. She's left

destitute for living expenses and cannot get welfare unless

she " spends down " her assets, ie. sells her house and car, proceeds

of which would probably go to the state for her spouse's care, then

apply for aid. " "

My answer: There is a program that has been around for years

called -Spousal Impoverishment-. It's not to put the spouse not in

the nursing home in the poor house, but to allocate the money and

property of the spouse in the nursing home to their spouse who is

remaining at home. Unless the couple has a lot of income 2,000 plus

a month or a lot of liquid assets(cash), more than $100,000 in the

bank, all the money is allocated to the spouse who is living outside

of the nursing home. If you are over any of the income/property

limits, appeal the action, most Administrative Law Judges will put

aside the limits. If you have questions again, ask your Social

Services worker, your local Legal Aid Society or your state senators

office.

No one has had to sell their paid for house or car for years, in

order to be eligible for aid. Now most states aren't going to make

your payments for you, if you are on aid. People do lose their houses

and cars, in that case it's easier to save face and blame the

government. But for more than 20 years, the value of the home you

live in, or the car you drive, has not been counted in the amount of

property to determine eligibility.

" " Also on welfare to unwed mothers, don't forget - it takes 2 to

Tango. For every unwed mother, there's a man out there somewhere who

has equal responsibility in caring for his child. Some men assume

this responsibility as caring, supporting fathers. Most don't. " "

My answer -- One of the things a parent applying for aid must do is

assign Child Support Rights to the state. Depending on the state

they can be very effective at finding the absent parent and

collecting child support. This money is applied to the aid the

family receives, and sometimes the child support collected is more

that the aid the family receives. In that case, the state will

continue to collect the child support for the custodial parent, and

pass the money on to the custodial parent after their aid ends. Yes,

this happens, surprising often. Also, women aren't the only ones who

are custodial parents, so are fathers and many grandparents. Working

in the system, you see everything, in ever possible permutation.

" " In many states the incentive in welfare is to stay on it, not work

to get off it, esp. if she is penalized for earning money. Not

enough good paying jobs are available to her because of education,

transportation and child care issues to mention a few. I worked

with a university on a federal-state grant to get low income women

into better paying jobs. The only way a woman could make it on that

program was to have a child if she didn't have one, or have another

if she already had one. It was so senseless and frustrating that I

quit. " "

My answer -- According to the TANF(welfare) regulations, the first

40% of earned income and half of the remaining income is deducted

from the gross income of a person on TANF. For example, if a woman

makes $1,000, 40% or $400 is deducted first and then half of what

remains $600/2 or $300. So for earning $1,000, only $300 is applied

against her aid money. So if her aid check is $600 a month, $300

will be deducted. So she gets $300 in aid and $1000 in earnings.

Hmmm, $600 if she doesn't work and $1,300 in she does work. Oh, and

TANF also pays for child care and transportation. It's been like

this for the past ten years, the old AFDC (Aid to Families with

Dependant Children) did not work this way. That is why I stress

talking with a Social Service Worker, your local Legal Aid Society,

or even the Welfare Rights Organization in your area.

Also for the past ten years, having more children while on aid does

not increase the amount of aid a parent receives. This was a big

change. There are a lot of differences between now and even a few

years ago. Change is a constant in Social Services. There are a lot

of small programs to help minor mothers/parents, disabled clients,

parents with disabled children, previous SSI recipients, people

trying to get on SSI. Not all people who work in the system know all

the programs and the requirements to be eligible for them. It is

important to know how to get to that information.

And remember, no one situation is a one size fits all. Always ask

how Medicaid will effect you.