I have lived in a home owned by my mother for 20 years. Recently, the home was gifted to me. If she goes into a NH, can Medicare take to cover NH bill?

If mom needs Medicaid within the next 5 years, her gifting the home could cause her a penalty. Meaning, she would not be able to get Medicaid until the penalty was resolved. Someone would need to care for her until penalty period is met or pay for her care,

All gifting needs to stop. And who gifted u your home?

I assume that you’re here because you have heard mom’s transferring a home to you will be an issue for Medicaid. Yep, that’s correct!

First, imo It’s critically important that you understand the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. MediCARE is health insurance & it’s doesn’t care what assets are BUT does care if you worked enough quarters to have paid into FICA to qualify for Medicare & at what rate.

Secondly, Medicaid are huge #’s of State run programs for “at need” populations. & these you do need to qualify for. Some are financially based eligibility and some are financially AND medically based eligibility All required renewals. There is Medicaid as health insurance; Medicaid as a community based programs like those “happy teeth” vans @ elementary school for kids under CHIP, it’s IHHS as in home healthcare and as PACE senior day centers; and LTC Medicaid which is custodial care which pays for room&board in a NH and sometimes in MC or AL on a LTC Medicaid waiver. LTC Medicaid for NH gets matched up with Medicare and Medicaid as health insurance to deal with the overall costs. This is a kinda a very simplistic overview.

LTC Medicaid very VERY much is “at need” medically and financially. And if your mom has assets over TN limits or has done stuff with her assets within the lookback, she will not be eligible and will have a penalty placed on an application (if one is filed).

How you described your mom’s situation imho I would NOT file a LTC Medicaid application for her as a DIY as she’s got way waaay too too many assets. It would be an exercise in futility and would unnecessarily place her on Medicaid radar for transfer penalty purposes.

Here why in my not an attorney’s opinion but have gotten thru the applications in more than 1 State for mom & MiL:
- the Southern States are pretty definite that they will want applicants to be impoverished which means a maximum of $2,000 of nonexempt assets and monthly income max is $ 2,742.
- she can continue to own a (1) property that is a primary with a homestead exemption under abt 700K value (this varies by State). But will have no $ to pay on it as will be required to do a copay of all monthly income to the NH less TN personal needs allowance of $50 a month. So either your family pays all property costs on that home still on your name till past your death and then deal with it and it’s still subject to a required attempt of estate recovery (MERP) or ya sell it.
SO….
- if she has more than 1 “home”, won’t be LTC Medicaid eligible. You wrote “one of my moms TN homes”. She has more than “1”, not going to be eligible. As there are assets she can sell & use to pay for care. Not impoverished. Has to be impoverished.
- if she transfers a home or land to get her to just have the magic “1”, if that movement of an asset is done within 3 - 5 years (again depends on the State) of her filing for LTC Medicaid, it’s viewed as gifting.
- gifting = penalty placed on her application. She will get an ineligibility notice of days of ineligibility. Likely will be years ineligible.
- application once filed allows the State to search, x-reference all databases for any match up to her SS # and that of her spouse (dead or divorced).
- application & ineligibility now a part of State of TN records.

Really she needs to see an CELA atty who has a real estate atty they work with as a first step in this mess imho.

Your mother gifted this home recently? Then she will not qualify for Medicaid.

I would see an elder law attorney to work out the best way to proceed according to the rules of your state and this transfer of assets.

Yes. If the property was put into your name for less than the Medicaid (different from Medicare) look-back period, it is not an exempt asset. Medicare does not pay for long term care. It only pays if a person is temporarily in skilled nursing or rehab.

Any real estate that's been in your mother's name for the last five years will have to be sold to pay for her care. When that money is 'spend-down' as Medicaid puts it, they will start paying.
Unless, she has a spouse living and sharing a home with her. In such case a spouse would be allowed to retain the home they share together and live there.

You don't mention any Irrevocable Trusts having been set up at least five years ago, so I'm assuming that there are none. These can also make a property a Medicaid-exempt asset as long as the family does not sell it.

You state that your mother owns several properties. So really, she's not in need of Medicaid with that many assets. She could pay for her own nursing home care should the day come by selling off some of her real estate.

That day may never come. As it is your mother gave you a free house which was very kind of her. She must be a very generous lady.
That being said, you should be putting money aside every month that you're not paying a mortgage or rent with.
So should the day come within the next five years that your mother needs a nursing home and she's spend down all her other real estate and assets on care, you will be able to purchase the house you live in at market price.

You asked the question “can Medicare take the house to cover NH bill?” Do you mean “Medicaid” and not “Medicare”? Are you referring to a Medicaid NH?

If your mother is on Medicaid, my advice to you is to seek the advice of an elder law attorney who is versed on how Medicaid works with nursing home patients as it all depends on when the home was gifted to you as Medicaid has a 5-year look back.