Medicaid & Nursing Home Planning Attorneys in Dayton

Medicaid vs. Medicare for Nursing Home Costs

Many families assume Medicare will cover a nursing home stay. It won’t, not for long. Medicare Part A covers up to 100 days in a skilled nursing facility following a qualifying hospital stay of at least three days. After that, coverage ends. For extended nursing home care, Medicare simply isn’t designed for the job.

Medicaid is the primary payer for long-term nursing home stays in the United States because it covers ongoing care for individuals who meet financial eligibility requirements. Ohio uses a Medically Needy spend-down methodology for applicants whose monthly income exceeds the long-term care limit. Understanding this distinction matters when structuring an eligibility plan, and it’s one of the areas where working with an experienced Ohio Medicaid planning attorney can make a practical difference.

Spending Down Assets to Qualify for Ohio Medicaid

To qualify for Ohio Medicaid nursing home coverage, a single applicant must have no more than $2,000 in countable assets. Not every asset counts toward that limit. Personal possessions, one vehicle, prepaid funeral arrangements, and qualifying life insurance are among the assets Ohio Medicaid considers non-countable.

Before any asset restructuring begins, it’s worth confirming whether a medical condition automatically qualifies the individual for Medicaid regardless of asset levels. If it doesn’t, Ohio Medicaid planning strategies available to reduce countable assets include the following:

Asset protection strategies available under Ohio Medicaid:

• Irrevocable Medicaid asset protection trusts
• Life estate deeds
• Medicaid-compliant annuities
• Spousal asset transfers
• Spend-down planning
• Child caregiver exceptions
• Sibling exceptions

Each of these strategies must be structured carefully. Asset transfers that aren’t set up correctly can create a period of Medicaid ineligibility rather than eliminating one. Our attorneys know which assets are countable under Ohio Medicaid rules and how to reduce them without triggering penalties.

The Risks of Gifting Assets & Why a Medicaid Trust Is Safer

Families sometimes try to reduce countable assets by gifting property directly to an adult child. The problem is that direct gifting means giving up all control. Once the asset transfers, it belongs to the recipient. If that person goes through a divorce, files for bankruptcy, or dies, the asset can be lost entirely before it ever benefits the family it was meant to protect.

A Medicaid asset protection trust accomplishes the same goal without that exposure. By transferring assets to a trustee under the trust’s terms rather than to an individual outright, the assets aren’t personally owned by anyone. They’re protected from the trustee’s creditors and don’t pass through probate. For Medicaid eligibility purposes, assets held in a properly structured irrevocable trust aren’t counted as available resources.

The trust can also serve as a supplemental fund to cover expenses Medicaid doesn’t pay, and at the grantor’s death, the assets can pass directly to beneficiaries and avoid probate. Ohio’s 60-month look-back period applies to transfers into trust just as it does to outright gifts, so timing and structure are essential. These arrangements need to be built by an attorney who handles Ohio Medicaid planning regularly.