New York State has announced the 2021 income and resource levels for Medicaid eligibility (GIS 20 MA/13). As the Medicaid program is a “means tested” program, the first step in determining eligibility is looking to the applicant’s income and assets/resources.
The new income threshold for an individual applying for community/home care Medicaid is $904 a month ($895 in 2020). The new resource (non-retirement liquid assets) threshold for an individual applying for home care Medicaid is $15,900 ($15,750 in 2020). For a couple applying for home care Medicaid, their eligibility is based on their combined countable resources, which can be no more than $23,400 ($23,100 in 2020).
If you’ve wondered lately about a friend, a neighbor or a loved one, and whether they may need assistance with their activities of daily living, such as assistance showering, dressing, toileting, meal preparation etc., now is the time to seriously consider applying for community/home care Medicaid. As discussed in Anthony J. Enea’s article, “Seniors and the Disabled Get a Needed Reprieve from the Imposition of the new Penalty and Lookback Period for Community Medicaid,” the new look back for community Medicaid is currently set to take effect on April 1, 2021. Any application submitted on or after April 1, 2021 will include a look back to October 1, 2020, whereby Medicaid will implement a penalty period for any non-exempt transfer of assets. Currently an applicant can make a non-exempt transfer of assets and apply for community Medicaid with no penalty.
We highly encourage those who have been thinking about applying for community Medicaid to contact us to discuss their current eligibility and the consequences the new look back will have.
