Applying for Medicaid

Applying for Medicaid

Applying for Medicaid is very important– but also difficult, burdensome, and confusing. Medicaid has strict requirements, and Medicaid staff work hard to make sure that each applicant meets those requirements. The process can be overwhelming.

In addition to basic information, Medicaid will require you to submit five years’ worth of detailed records for each account in which the applicant had any interest in the past five years (and some legislators propose increasing that look back period). For any transaction involving more than $1,000 (or $500 in some counties), Medicaid will ask you to explain where the money came from or went, and provide proof. If you’re not able to give a satisfactory explanation, Medicaid may count that transaction as a gift, and impose a “penalty period” during which Medicaid will not pay for the applicant’s care. (Innocent gifts to family or charity can also draw a penalty period.)

Working with a lawyer can make this process much easier. We will work with you to prepare the application, assemble the supporting records and review your application in detail. We often find issues and work with our clients to mitigate them in advance. It is much easier to fix a problem before you submit your application to Medicaid than after.

A Medicaid application is a portrait of a person’s financial life, and each person’s life is different. We have seen a wide variety of issues that require different solutions. We may prepare a legal memo for Medicaid, work with you to assemble necessary information, write letters or create charts that explain important details, prepare an affidavit verifying relevant facts, or take other steps as circumstances require.

Whatever your application entails, we are here to help, and will walk you through the onerous process of applying for Medicaid from start to finish. Call or email us today.