The Day He’s Admitted Is the Only Day Medicaid Counts Their Money. An Inheritance She Receives Two Years Later Is Hers

7,823.60+0.58%Dow Jones51,740.80+0.91%Nasdaq 10030,928.20+0.38%Russell 20002,809.13+0.43% S&P 5007,823.60+0.58%Dow Jones51,740.80+0.91%Nasdaq 10030,928.20+0.38%Russell 20002,809.13+0.43% S&P 5007,823.60+0.58%Dow Jones51,740.80+0.91%Nasdaq 10030,928.20+0.38%Russell 20002,809.13+0.43% S&P 5007,823.60+0.58%Dow Jones51,740.80+0.91%Nasdaq 10030,928.20+0.38%Russell 20002,809.13+0.43% S&P 5007,823.60+0.58%Dow Jones51,740.80+0.91%Nasdaq 10030,928.20+0.38%Russell 20002,809.13+0.43% S&P 5007,823.60+0.58%Dow Jones51,740.80+0.91%Nasdaq 10030,928.20+0.38%Russell 20002,809.13+0.43% Personal Finance The Day He’s Admitted Is the Only Day Medicaid Counts Their Money. An Inheritance She Receives Two Years Later Is Hers One date on the calendar determines how much of a couple's savings gets counted for Medicaid, and families who miss it often spend down money they were legally allowed to keep. What happens to an inheritance that arrives after that…

Life After Work desk. Editor: David Beren.

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The first day of a husband’s continuous nursing home stay, expected to last at least 30 days, is the most important date in his Medicaid case. This is often the day he enters the facility, but in some states it is the first day of that month. Planners call it the Medicaid snapshot date, which sets how much of the couple’s money counts. An inheritance his wife receives after he is approved for Medicaid generally stays with her and is excluded from his eligibility calculation. An inheritance she receives before the snapshot date counts toward the couple’s resources.

Federal law at 42 U.S.C. section 1396r-5(c)(1)(A) requires the state to add up the couple’s countable resources: cash, investments, and other assets Medicaid doesn’t exempt, in either name or both. The total is taken “as of the beginning of the first continuous period of institutionalization,” which generally means a stay expected to last at least 30 days. A share of that total becomes the community spouse resource allowance, the amount the spouse at home keeps.

The review looks back to admission, often landing months before the application. Oklahoma’s eligibility manual counts resources “as of the month of the individual’s entry into the nursing facility, regardless of the date of application for Medicaid,” but uses the application date for home and community-based waiver cases. Practice varies by state and program.

Either spouse can request an assessment when the stay begins. The state must “promptly assess and document the total value” and provide each spouse a copy. Early documentation surfaces disputes over values or ownership before money gets spent down.

Once he’s found eligible, 42 U.S.C. section 1396r-5(c)(4) applies. During the continuous stay and after the month he’s determined eligible, “no resources of the community spouse shall be deemed available to the institutionalized spouse.” An inheritance, gift, legal settlement, or proceeds from selling her separate property generally don’t flow into his calculation. Rhode Island’s regulation says resources the community spouse acquires after that month “will not be deemed available.”

The order of events matters because an inheritance coming before the review gets counted in the assessment. The same check coming after approval generally doesn’t. When a family controls timing (such as when to sell property or settle an estate), that’s worth discussing with counsel.

The rule keeps her resources from being considered his, but the state still reviews the case.

Families who rebuild balances months later, after statements have aged, are at a disadvantage.

Admission week is when the numbers get locked in. Families who save that date’s balances, request the assessment, and bring in counsel early have a record to stand on. That record lets the later rule keep her new assets hers.

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David Beren has been a Flywheel Publishing contributor since 2022. Writing for 24/7 Wall St. since 2023, David loves to write about topics of all shapes and sizes. As a technology expert, David focuses heavily on consumer electronics brands, automobiles, and general technology. He has previously written for LifeWire, formerly About.com. As a part-time freelance writer, David’s “day job” has been working on and leading social media for multiple Fortune 100 brands. David loves the flexibility of this field and its ability to reach customers exactly where they like to spend their time. Additionally, David previously published his own blog, TmoNews.com, which reached 3 million readers in its first year. In addition to freelance and social media work, David loves to spend time with his family and children and relive the glory days of video game consoles by playing any retro game console he can get his hands on.

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