Medicaid Long Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) in New Jersey pays for nursing home care for people with alzheimers disease, catastrophic disabilities and other serious difficulties with self care. The program requires any applicant with more than $2205 (three times the SSI amount–new for 2017) of gross income to make a Qualified Income Trust. Our office assists applicants with this process all the time. After the Trust document is completed, we usually send the trustee to the applicant’s bank to set up a QIT bank account. But things can get hairy here. Most people, reasonably, want to open bank accounts that avoid fees and penalties. However, QIT accounts are not most accounts. They are for the applicant’s gross regular monthly income ONLY, and the income is supposed to go into the account and leave the account every month. Medicaid allows up to $20 per month in fees as a deduction from the applicant’s income; trustees should therefore pick the checking account product with reasonable fees but no minimum deposit. If the account is set up with $0 in it, even if that costs a little money, that’s good; the assigned income will go in and fund the trust account in the month of the application date sought–this is what caseworkers are looking for initially. Some banks will waive even these costs if you show proof of a regular direct deposit.
Unfortunately, many applicants’ Medicaid eligibility has been tripped up by technical processes related to Qualified Income Trusts since they began in December of 2014. To do better, we all need to up our game and learn exactly what the caseworkers want before they ask. Come talk to us about this and your other Medicaid questions. We’re here to help.
Call us for Medicaid applications and senior care planning … 732-382-6070