The simple answer is No.
Medicaid for nursing home care works differently. Income doesn’t matter.
There are a lot of other income limits for other Medicaid programs, but Medicaid for nursing home care works differently. Medicaid needs to take a look at a person’s assets, making sure they don’t have too much of this asset or too much of that asset. For example, you are allowed to keep a home within certain limits and a vehicle. If you qualify based on assets, health condition and everything else, income doesn’t matter, because the income of the person going into the nursing home goes to the facility first. So Medicaid doesn’t care if you are making $10,000 a month in income (between pensions, social security, etc). If the cost of care is $10,001, then Medicaid picks up the $1.00 difference. So if the facility only costs $9,000 and you are getting $10,000 a month in income, technically you would qualify for Medicaid, but Medicaid wouldn’t pay anything out, since the income would be sufficient to cover all the costs. So that’s why income doesn’t really matter.
Now there are other questions that may come up about income and income going to the spouse outside the nursing home and how that should be handled and set that up, but that’s for another time.
If you would like to learn more about qualifying for Medicaid for long term care, my book Don’t Go Broke! The Truth Behind North Carolina Long Term Care Planning addresses the myths and misconceptions about long term care and Medicaid eligibility. If you need more information, please contact our office. We have caring and friendly staff that are ready to help.
