Almost Anybody Qualifies for Medicaid in Maine

Except poor people:

Frustrated MaineCare eligibility workers complained that rich Mainers —”even millionaires” — qualify instantaneously for the program’s most expensive long-term care (LTC) benefit using “Medicaid-compliant annuities.” Nearly $6 million dodged MaineCare spend down requirements that way last year.

MaineCare recipients can retain $750,000 of home equity and — without any dollar limit — one income-producing business, household goods, one auto, prepaid burials, term life insurance, and individual retirement accounts. Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But if you still have too much wealth to qualify for free LTC, not to worry. “MaineCare planners” will gladly help you self-impoverish artificially for legal fees of $10,000 to $15,000, little more than you’d pay privately for one month in a nursing home.

Our study concluded that “just about anyone qualifies for MaineCare’s expensive LTC benefits without much problem, except, ironically, the poor, who often lose everything quickly for lack of professional financial and legal advice.”

Steve Moses from the Center for Long-Term Care Reform

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