2020 Medicaid Planning Desk Reference Guide
To download the complete set of numbers for the 2020 Medicaid Desk Reference Guide (which you can download for FREE), click on the following:
http://medicaidplanning.org/2020-desk-reference
2020 ASSET LIMITS—the NEW minimum Community Spousal Resource Allowance (CSRA) is $25,728. The new maximum CSRA is $128,640.
2020 INCOME LIMITS—the NEW Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance (MMMNA) is $2,133.75 (for all states except Alaska and Hawaii). The new maximum amount is $3,216.
2020 HOME EQUITY LIMITS—the NEW minimum Home Equity Limit is $560,000. In the handful of states that have adopted an upper limit, that amount is $840,000 for 2020.
Do you know what the CRSA and MMMNA mean and why they are important to clients who are candidates for Medicaid assistance? The vast majority of those who will read this newsletter will have no idea what these mean.
I’ve been pounding the drum for several years when it comes to why advisors should learn “Medicaid planning.” Not learning it can open advisors up to lawsuits and considering that in America there are over 10,000 people turning 65 every day, it’s puzzling as to why advisors refuse to embrace a topic that covers our fastest growing demographic.
Avoiding Lawsuits—did you know that in order to qualify for financial aid through Medicaid, many clients have to spend down their countable assets to $2,000 in most states?
What are countable assets? –Brokerage accounts, investment property, annuities, and IRAs.
Clients with less than $1 million in assets—say you were giving “financial planning” advice to a widow who has a house (which is not a countable asset if she’s living in it) and $500,000 in an IRA. What happens if you sell that client an annuity with a 5-, 7-, 10-year surrender charge and then her health deteriorates to the point where she ends up in a nursing home (average private pay nursing home cost is over $100,000 a year and assisted living is almost $50,000 a year)?
Who is going to pay for the nursing home? Medicaid? Nope. In order to qualify for Medicaid, the client will have to spend down her assets to $2,000. That means she’s going to have to liquidate the annuity to pay for her care.
Was it prudent to sell her the annuity? Should the annuity you sold be one that could convert to a Medicaid compliant annuity which then will NOT be a countable asset for Medicaid?
Should her advisor have talked with her last year, two years ago, five years ago about doing Medicaid planning so she could preserve some of her assets and still qualify in a timely manner for Medicaid? Absolutely!
Do you know Medicaid planning? If you have clients over 60 who have less than $1 million in assets, you need to learn Medicaid planning (for them and for yourself to avoid lawsuits).
How do you learn Medicaid Planning? Buy and read the Medicaid Planning Guidebook (best book ever written on the subject). To learn about and pre-order the soon-to-be released 2020 version at a DISCOUNT, click on the following link:
https://assetprotectionproducts.com/product/medicaid-guidebook-2020
Certified Medicaid Planner™
I have so much I cover in my weekly newsletters that I sometimes forget that my company, The Wealth Preservation Institute, offers the only Medicaid certification in any industry (law, accounting, insurance, etc.). The certification is Certified Medicaid Planner™ and if you are or want to be in the senior market, this is a terrific designation to have. To learn about the CMP™, go to https://cmpboard.org.
Roccy DeFrancesco, JD
Strategic Marketing Partners, LLC
roccy@strategicmp.net
269-216-9978
