Many people will ask about the ethics involved with Medicaid planning. Some will often make comments about hiding assets from the government. This is not true. In fact, most Medicaid planners will never recommend any client to withhold information about their assets from the government. Medicaid guidelines are in each state and these guidelines can allow for ways to preserve assets without any unethical practices. This means that the family members are allowed to reduce the amount of countable assets of an individual so that they will become eligible for Medicaid benefits. Doing this will also protect those assets for the benefit of the family in the future.
Medicaid asset preservation (aka asset protection) will vary. It will depend on the wishes and desires of the particular family as well as how many assets are involved. Many families will make the decision to spend down the assets in order to get nursing home care instead of taking assistance from the government. This is a personal decision, so it will take a lot of thought and planning. Other families may not agree with this choice. They feel they have worked their whole lives to get what they have and would rather get financial assistance from the government if it is available. Most families will decide to protect some of the assets instead of depleting them.
Medicaid planners can be a great help in making this decision. When planning for Medicaid, asset protection is one of the major decisions to be made. If a family decides to spend all assets and become eligible for benefits, there will be no assets to use if needed in the future. On the other hand, keeping assets could make the individual ineligible and they would have no means of paying for nursing home care when needed.
Medicaid planners or advisors are required to inform all clients of their rights when making these important decisions. If they do not do so, there could be the chance of a lawsuit in the future. Medicaid planners must always explain all of the planning possibilities for Medicaid. This includes informing the family on how to protect assets or spend them down. Neither is an unethical practice, but this information must be provided to each and every client. Medicaid planning can be very complex, especially if the individual has a lot of assets they wish to protect. In some cases, it may be impossible to avoid having to spend down some of these assets.
Read more information on Medicaid:
- Medicaid Planners
- Medicaid Rules Purchasing Annuities
- Medicaid Transfer Assets
- Medicaid Gifting Rules
- Medicaid Joint Accounts
- Hide Assets from Medicaid
- Medicaid Assets
- Medicaid Home Equity
- Medicaid Laws
- Medicaid Annuity
- Medicaid Income First Rule
- Medicaid Long Term Care Insurance
- Medicaid Look Back Period
- Medicaid Life Estate
- Medicaid Loan
- Medicaid Deficit Reduction Act
- Medicaid Case Study
