How to give to people on Medicaid and other government benefits

[profnot]

How to give to people on Medicaid and other government benefits so you don’t endanger their benefits

BeautifulDay started a great thread on ideas for Holiday gifts.  I wrote the article below for another website and thought Mustachians might be interested.


Gifting
Do not pay their bills - especially those related to housing, utilities, and credit cards.  Medicaid views these payments as income to the recipient in virtually all states.

Handing someone an ATM or credit card with the recipient as an authorized user will most likely damage their Medicaid benefits.  Similarly, do not give them your ATM card to withdraw cash. 

Cash in small amounts is usually OK 
But if you give $50 or more, many elderly recipients will give the money to their children or grandchildren.  (This is exactly what one elderly friend of mine does.) 

In most states you are allowed to give modest presents.

Gift cards for locally-owned stores to your recipient have a better chance of being spent by your friend than by her/his children or grandchildren.  Skip Target, Walmart, and other chain stores.  Chose a local gas station rather than a chain like Shell or Mobil.   


Gift ideas

Gift cards
Recommended stores for purchase of gift cards:
*The best local grocery and produce stores so they get healthier food and some treats
*Local hardware stores 
*Gasoline - locally owned stations, not chains
*Local pet food store
*Local barber shop or hair salon
*Health food store, non-chain
*Vitamins and supplements shop
*Local garden store
*Local runner’s shoe shop for foot-healthy shoes
*Cell phone minutes card if recipient has a pay-as-you-go plan.
Put the cards in RFID-protected sleeves so thieves cannot steal the value.  You can buy the sleeves on Amazon and elsewhere.


Buy a subscription to the local Community Supported Agriculture farm and tell them your friend will be picking up the produce.  Bring your friend and introduce her by first name only. 
(Buy extra subscriptions for the Food Bank while you are there.)

If a friend’s computer breaks, have it repaired or buy a tablet with keyboard cover, etc.

Pay for a service to clean her home once a month.

Have flowers delivered occasionally.  Enquire about any allergies first.

Purchase an annual membership to the local senior center.  Pay activity fees, such as those for crafts, gym use, or outings.

Magazine subscriptions.  Choose one which will stimulate them intellectually rather than popular drivel.  Smithsonian, for example.


Assisted Living or Nursing Home residents
Have their favorite foods delivered from Harry & David, Dean & Deluca, Whole Foods, etc.  (Call  the nursing home or friend first and ask about dietary restrictions in case they have diabetes, allergies, etc.) 

Order produce, cheese, and beverages.  Medicaid nursing home food is usually bland and overcooked.

Buy a mini-fridge if there is no kitchen in the room. 

Buy females nice hand cream and other toiletries.  Unscented is nice so it won’t clash with cosmetics.

Some facilities offer haircuts and manicures as paid extras.  Buy those services for your friend after you talk to the insurance administrator to learn if these gifts could impact Medicaid benefits.     

Do not give them things requiring dusting.  Give them things to be enjoyed and used.  Only exception: photos of loved ones.
A lovely woman I know put a photo of her husband in his room at the nursing home.  The photo showed him on a huge BMW motorcycle stopped on a trail in the Himalaya mountains.  This photo reminds the man (and his caretakers) most of his life was as a world adventurer.

Nursing home residents
Hire a CNA worker at your friend’s nursing home to take your friend around the neighborhood in the wheelchair.  Pay the worker at least $35 per hour in cash as nursing homes pay very low wages.
 

Get advice if you wish to give expensive presents
Just before I move to a new state, I will give my Acura to a senior on Medicaid - after I consult an Elder Law attorney and have the office draw up the paperwork.  The Medicaid rules in our state might require her to buy the car from me for $100.  I’ll take her to the Department of Motor Vehicles to properly transfer title.


Learn more about how to give to people on Medicaid
Take 10 minutes to read the article at
https://www.PayingForSeniorCare.com/Medicaid/Family-Supplementation.html

A quote from the article:
“If the daughter decides to give the money directly to her mother and allows her mother to purchase items and pay bills herself, the money will count as unearned income. The increase in unearned income will reduce SSI payments by the same amount. Furthermore, depending how much additional money the daughter gifts her mother, she could disqualify her mother for Medicaid. This is true in all states. In short, the daughter is, at best, wasting her money, since any money she gives will lessen the public assistance her mother receives and, at worst, endangering her mother’s Medicaid eligibility.”

[jim555]

This would only apply to Traditional Medicaid, the elderly, disabled, and blind, as they have a resource test.  The Medicaid expansion group has no resource test and gifts are not counted as income.

[TVRodriguez]

A friend's brother lives in a group home.  She told me that, when a storm was expected to down power lines, he and his roommates all wanted flashlights, in case of a blackout.

[terran]

This is dangerous and irresponsible advice for people with a relative or loved one on SSI (not SSDI), which is also tied to medicaid eligibility. For such people any gift of food or housing, including resources that can be turned into food (like a gift card to anywhere that sells food) are considered in kind support and maintenance which can result in loss of benefits. I hope you edit this post and the original blog post to make it clear that this advice only applies to people on SSDI, not SSI.

[joshuagraham_xyz]

Give it in cash and tell the recipient to not deposit it in the bank.  Give the recipient a credit card with him as a name on the card (but only registered to you) and let him use it to buy stuff.  Have a bank account set up with a debit card, and give him the debit card to make cash withdrawals from an ATM.

One of the great things about Guaranteed Income is that we won't have to worry about paying a bunch of expensive bureaucrats to nose around about who is getting money on the side and who isn't.