What is Going On?

There seems to be a pattern emerging from the new Congress, which seems to be much the same as the last Congress, don't get along or work together until you absolutely have to and only to the extent you absolutely have to. Take the Estate Tax Issue signed December 17, just weeks before the existing law sunset. Then there is the recent near disaster of coming within one hour of forcing the entire Federal government to come to a halt. I think that we can look forward to more of the same in the future.

In Illinois, we don't know what to expect. Governors Gone Wild, Mayors not living here until it is of advantage to them, no money in the state coffers. Medicaid laws enacted in 2006 that have not been adopted here in Illinois to date. It seems that we might finally get around to adopting the Deficit Reduction Act of 2006 (DRA) by the end of the year, no promises though. Some people act as if we already adopted DRA some time ago, but no, not yet. In the State's defense, there was a suit challenging it's constitutionality basically because there was a spelling error/missing words problem.

The new rules basically change the penalty period should one have excess assets from beginning the date the asset was gifted, to, the penalty period beginning the date the Medicaid application is filed. There is a big difference between a 10 month penalty period starting two years ago and one going forward 10 months from this month. This is particularly difficult where there is no money to pay a nursing home going forward as money was already spent down before the Medicaid application was filed.

There are legal strategies that can pre-qualify individuals for Medicaid, while protecting assets so that they can be passed on to your family. As this economic situation continues to languish and interest rates continue to bottom out and we continue to live longer and longer and health care costs continue to rise, more and more families will need to at least be aware of asset protection strategies that qualify one spouse for Medicaid, without putting the other spouse in the poor house and still having some assets to pass on to your heirs when you die.

If you are interested in this topic feel free to contact me to schedule a free consultation at 630-613-7700, or e-mail me at bill@wjdennislaw.com.