For Qualified Income Trusts, Not All Bank Accounts Are Created Equal
Medicaid Long Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) in New Jersey pays for nursing home care for people with alzheimers disease, catastrophic disabilities and other serious difficulties with self care. The program requires any applicant with more than $2205 (three times the SSI amount–new for 2017) of gross income to make a Qualified Income Trust. Our office assists applicants with this...
Smoothing the way for a nursing home admission
The need to place a beloved family member in a nursing home may be one of the most harrowing and heartbreaking decisions a person has to make. Not only is there a terrible sense of guilt and failure, but the sheer cost of a single month in a nursing home is staggering, and leaves the family with a bleak view of their future security. They feel vulnerable, because they are at the mercy of...
Special Needs Fairness Act signed into law by President Obama
Today is a good-news day for people with disabilities who want to set up a Special Needs Trust to preserve their eligibility for critical benefits: the President has signed the Special Needs Fairness Act — S349 — into law. . Since 1993, an applicant or recipient of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid (now MLTSS in New Jersey) has been able to shelter their excess...
Going from ACA Medicaid to “Regular” Medicaid Can Be a High Wire Act Without Legal Assistance
New Jersey has a lot of roads to eligibility for Medicaid, and that’s a good thing. All of those roads are called NJ FamilyCare, and that’s a confusing thing.
Medicaid in New Jersey is provided by five Managed Care Organizations (MCO) now through NJ FamilyCare. You must choose one to get services, including long-term services and supports (LTSS), which will be coordinated by the...
What if the Medicaid home care services aren’t provided? part II
Previously I blogged about the problems faced by Medicaid-eligible people living in home and community-based settings when there isn’t a sufficient provider network to provide the services needed to maintain them in their residences, or there is substantial delay in getting the services started. The issue is that the government is obligated to provide the services in the...
Reduction of Home Care Hours Under Medicaid Can’t be Arbitrary
New Jersey Family Care is the Medicaid a program that provides MLTSS — Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports. The home care program is called HCBS — Home and Community-Based Services. Once the applicant has been found eligible for Medicaid and is assigned a Medicaid case number, s/he must select a Managed Care Organization (MCO). S/he will then receive a visit from a Case...
Disability Integration Act of 2015 is a pending bill with great promise
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) introduced a bill in Congress that’s designed to ensure that Medicaid-eligible people who are aged or have disabilities can receive their necessary services out in the community through the Medicaid Home and Community Based Services program (HCBS). Aging in Place is what it’s all about. The bill is S-2427 and here it is. The bill has been referred to the...
Medicaid Eligibility – What if the Services aren’t delivered?
After a Medicaid long-term care application is approved and the Plan of Care (PoC) for home and community-based services is approved (MLTSS-HCBS), the individual may be faced with a wait. The New Jersey Medicaid HMO’s that provide the services for the State of New Jersey are required by the State contract to have a deep enough provider pool to service the need. However, clients are...
The application for Medicaid Home Care Services is Just the Beginning
New Jersey Medicaid has a program to deliver home and community-based services to people who meet the “institutional level of care” but would be able to remain at home as long as they receive an array of long term services and supports (LTSS). Examples of LTSS are: bathing, grocery shopping, meal preparation, feeding, dressing, safety supervision, and hands-on help with...
NJ Medicaid posts guidance on Veterans Benefit income
MedCom No. 15-08 was issued on April 29th by the NJ Division of Medical Assistance and Health Services (DMAHS) to provide instructions to applicants who receive benefits from the Veterans Administration. When a person applies for Medicaid to pay for nursing home, assisted living or home care under the MLTSS program, they need to disclose their income from all sources. Each MLTSS program has...