January 2015 www.mdlab.org
If you have joint assets with another person,
such as a joint bank account or jointly owned
stocks or bonds, Medical Assistance counts the
full value as belonging to you unless you can
prove the other person is the real owner of
some or all of the asset. Because many people
use joint bank accounts to allow someone else
to handle their finances for them, this rule is
very important. The other person should never
mix their own money into that account. Also, if
that person withdraws any of the money, you
may be disqualified from Medical Assistance.
See Question 6. A better way to allow someone
else to handle your finances for you is to have a
durable power of attorney.
Question 3: WHAT INCOME CAN MY
SPOUSE KEEP IF I GO INTO A
NURSING HOME?
Your spouse’s income is not counted by
Medical Assistance, and it does not have to be
used for the cost of your nursing home care if
you are eligible for Medical Assistance. If your
spouse’s income is less than $1967 per month,
then your spouse can have an allowance from
your income. After the $76 personal needs
deduction and the deduction for health
insurance premiums from your income, your
spouse can keep as much of your monthly
income as needed to bring his or her income up
to $1967 per month.
If your spouse’s housing costs (rent or
mortgage, property taxes, homeowner’s
insurance, and utilities) are more than $590 per
month, the allowance can be increased by the
amount of housing expenses above $590, up to
$2,981. The allowable amount to be paid over
to your spouse for housing costs is reduced by
the personal income that your spouse receives.
In calculating the housing costs, the actual
costs for rent, mortgage, taxes, and insurance
are used. For utilities, however, a standard
figure of $245 or $402 per month, depending
on whether heat is included in the rent, is used.
If your spouse’s necessary living expenses are
more than the maximum of $2,981, the
allowance from your income may be increased
by a State Administrative Law Judge. Your
spouse would have to show significant
financial duress to get the allowance increased.
EXAMPLES:
1. Mr. Jones is in a nursing home. His income
is $600 per month. Mrs. Jones lives in their
house, and her income is $2,100 per month.
Only Mr. Jones’ own income is used for his
Medical Assistance eligibility, and Mrs. Jones
is free to use her income for her own expenses.
2. Mr. Jones is in a nursing home, and his
income is $2,100 per month. Mrs. Jones lives in
their home, and her income is $600 per month.
Only Mr. Jones’ income is used to determine
his Medical Assistance eligibility, and Mrs.
Jones gets an allowance of $1,367 per month to
bring her total income to $1,967. Mrs. Jones’
mortgage and other housing expenses are $620
per month, so her allowance is increased by
another $20 per month, to $1,387, raising her
total income to $ 1,987.
Question 4: WHAT RESOURCES
CAN MY SPOUSE KEEP IF I GO INTO
A NURSING HOME?
The following rule protects some resources for
the spouse who still lives in the community:
The spouse at home can keep all resources that
are “exempt” under the rules described in
Question 5.
All resources owned by either spouse are added
together to determine eligibility. It does not
matter which spouse owns the resources. This
includes resources owned jointly with someone
else unless you can prove the other person
actually owns the resources. (For example,
joint bank accounts owned with relatives are
counted in full.) The couple’s total resources as
of the date you go into a nursing home (called
the “snapshot date”) are added up. The spouse
at home is allowed to keep the larger of these
two amounts:
• a.) Up to $23,844 of the couple’s
combined, non-exempt resources; or,