MYTH: “I have to give away everything I own to get Medicaid.”

• The Truth: A person is permitted to own some property and still be eligible for Medicaid. Some assets are “countable” and others are “non-countable”.

• The value of retained assets can vary GREATLY.

 MYTH: “I can keep all our marital property and my inherited property when my spouse gets Medicaid.”

• The Truth: When a married person applies for Medicaid, assets in either or both spouses’ names are considered by the Medicaid agency. However, some assets won’t be “countable” and you may keep some as an asset allowance if your spouse enters a nursing home.

 MYTH: “If I enter a nursing home as a private pay resident, I must use up my assets before I can get Medicaid.”

• The Truth: You are not required to use your assets to private pay for nursing home care. However, some nursing homes might try to make you believe that you have to do this. They are paid less under the Medicaid program than they collect from the private pay patients.

 MYTH: “If I get on Medicaid, the nursing home will evict me.”

• The Truth: Once you enter a nursing home as a private pay resident, you cannot be evicted just for switching to Medicaid.

• The same level of care is given to both public and private pay residents.

 MYTH: “My power-of-attorney automatically has the power to take property out of my name if I ever need Medicaid.”

• The Truth: Your best tool to be able to plan for Medicaid eligibility, should you ever need it, is to sign a general, durable power of attorney that includes an “unlimited gifting” power. Your agent under the power of attorney will only be able to retitle your assets if your power of attorney contains a “power to make gifts”. Most powers of attorney do not contain this provision.

 MYTH: “I can only give away $10,000 per year under Medicaid rules.”

• The Truth: This is a rule under federal estate and gift tax law, not under Medicaid law. (Actually, the amount has changed to $12,000 for federal purposes.) People who would pay federal estate tax should not worry about getting Medicaid.

• Right now, Pennsylvania Medicaid law disqualifies a person from getting Medicaid for one month for every $6,757 given away, in most circumstances.

 MYTH: “My income may have to be used to pay my spouse’s nursing home bill.”

• The Truth: This is not true in Pennsylvania or the majority of states.

 MYTH: “All of my spouse’s income must be used to pay the bill if my spouse is on Medicaid in a nursing home.”

• The Truth: The law allows you to keep a portion of your spouse’s income if your income is below certain limits. In addition to this allowance, you may be entitled to a greater allowance if the cost of maintaining your home exceeds a certain amount.

 MYTH: “I can use my assets to purchase an annuity, which will allow me to qualify for Medicaid.”

• The Truth: Current Pennsylvania case law is not settled when converting non-exempt assets into an annuity regardless of whether the annuity terms are commercially reasonable.

 MYTH: “My Living Trust will protect my assets from the nursing home.”

• The Truth: Assets held in a living trust are fully available resources for nursing home expenses and titling the family home in a Living Trust can remove its status as an exempt resource for Medicaid eligibility.