Q & A
My mom is in a nursing home because she needs more care than I can give her at home. After next month, she will have only her IRA to use for payments. She gets $471 in Social Security as her only income. This pays for her telephone, bills, going to dinner or a movie with a friend on the weekend, and other miscellaneous expenses. I was told when her money is under a certain amount, Medi-Cal will pay for her nursing home care. Before this happens, do we have to break her IRA to use to pay for the nursing home, or can Medi-Cal take over before that? Also what happens to her Social Security and any savings she has?
Answer: It’s good that you wrote us because many people in your mother’s situation would simply cash in their IRA or other retirement accounts when they don’t need to. Under the eligibility rules for Medi-Cal skilled nursing home benefits, your mother, assuming she’s not married, can have only $2,000 in non-exempt assets to qualify for benefits. Read more.
Source: NapaValleyRegister.com – August 16, 2013