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gesflan
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« on: February 28, 2010, 05:04:35 PM » |
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Hi There,
First of all ... A HUGE THANK YOU ... for making this website available. We have been dealing with the VA and Medicaid for over 3 years now, and have gone through many of the issues you have laid out ... and our benefits are still not secure, so it is a great relief to find this site. THANK YOU
My question is this. It regards my Grandparents, whose finances I am trying (not very successfully) to manage.
My Grandfather is the vet ... he is on medicaid in PA in a skilled care nursing home, and is therefore only eligible for $90.
My Grandmother (his spouse) is in assisted living. We applied for VA benefits for her (through her connection to my grandfather) , and after a 2 year battle finally were awarded $1800 or so a month. However, only $650 of this is called "aid and attendance" by the VA. This is the case, even though her total assisted living charges are roughly $2400 per month, of which only $300 is labeled as "room and board". I am thinking the rest must be aid and attendance.
The problem comes when we reported the VA checks to Medicaid. Medicaid now takes the $1150 that is not labeled "aid and attendance", and applies it directly to Grandpap's income in order to determine his cost of care copay. That means we basically have lost that money each month. In addition, they now want back payments of $1150 for each month we retroactively qualified for the VA Benefit - which will result in completely depleting their savings account (which came from the sale of their home). The $1150 we lost also throws us $1000 overbudget each month.
To further complicate the issue, the VA will now not talk to anyone in my family, as of 9 months ago. They requested that we have a letter written and signed by my Grandfather instating my mother as Fiduciary, which we did promptly. Since then, they have refused to give us information or been very vague about the fiduciary process, told us that someone will visit my mother at some time to see if she is of sound mind, etc ... but no one has come. End result is - for the last 9 months we have been unable to communicate with the VA.
During that time is when Medicaid changed it's evaluation to take the $1150. I am currently trying to appeal their decision, alone, and to save my Grandparents' bank account of roughly $20,000. Also I am trying to keep Grandma in the assisted living home where she is - because if all the Medicaid decisions go through - they will have no savings, and will be $1000 overbudget each month - which means my Grandma will get kicked out of her home.
Got any advice? Once again, I am VERY appreciative of the time you put into this website. Thank you.
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