“What on earth is a QIT?” Under the New Jersey Medicaid program, there are some extra hoops to jump through when the applicant’s gross monthly income from all sources exceeds $2,205.00. This number is colloquially referred to as the “income cap,” and up until late 2014, it created a hard barrier to eligibility for home and community-based Medicaid services for higher-income applicants, and it placed recipients into the “Medically Needy” nursing home Medicaid program. The general rule with Medicaid is that the applicant must turn over all of their income to the nursing home except for specific authorized deductions, such as a Personal Needs Allowance (recently raised to $50/month), health insurance premiums and support of the community spouse. Simple enough. For the higher-income individuals, however, they must funnel the income through a Qualified Income Trust or QIT.
I’ve written about this process before. The QIT is an irrevocable income trust for sole benefit of the Medicaid applicant, and the State is the first remainder beneficiary at death of the Medicaid recipient. The State published a template as well as an instruction sheet for the helpful family member and the bank, to help everyone understand how to set it up. So what’s the problem? The problem is that when a Medicaid application is filed at the County Board of Social Services, the applicant’s family member/ representative might be told “don’t forget, you have to set up a QIT.” They may be given the State’s forms. They may not be told that it must be done immediately. What they aren’t given is step-by-step instructions on just what this “thing” is, how it has to be administered, and what the Trustee’s responsibilities are from month to month. It can be very difficult for the family member to reach the caseworker for follow-up. Despite the fact that state Medicaid regulations specifically require the local agencies to assist the applicants to secure eligibility, little help is provided on the QIT process. If that weren’t enough, some banks just don’t understand the process. In one of my recent cases, the branch manager of a major bank insisted that this trust could only be established through the corporate office — totally wrong advice. Sometimes, the family member just throws up their hands and walks away from it.
The big problem is that even if the individual is financially eligible to receive Medicaid benefits for his or her nursing home care, failure to set up the QIT will result in denial of Medicaid eligibility. This will have disastrous results for their spouse, who may be on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in nursing home bills.
The QIT must be established no later than the month prior to the first day of the first month in which you want Medicaid eligibility for nursing home services. Then as soon as the income arrives, it can be funneled through the Trust and allocated as required.
Call for advice on establishing QITs and all other nursing home Medicaid issues … 732-382-6070