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 Frequently
Asked Questions
Medi-Cal Frequently
Asked Questions
Veterans
Pension Frequently Asked Questions
Fees and Cost for Assistance
Getting Started, Appointments
and More information
Medi-Cal Frequently Asked Questions
It can be tricky to understand Medi-Cal requirements, qualifications
and applications. Heritage Financial North can help. Learning all
you can about the facts can help too. Read on to find out some of
the most frequently asked questions we receive from the seniors we
serve.
Does California law require seniors to use all of their
finances before Medi-Cal helps pay for the costs of a nursing
facility?
Fortunately no. Heritage Financial North's Advocates can help you
understand Medi-Cal "spend down" and will recommend the best plan
for you.
To qualify for Medi-Cal, what are my allowable asset-limits?
These amounts can change each year, but currently (2008) in order to
receive benefits, allowable assets are limited to $2,000 for seniors
who are single/widowed/divorced, and $106,400 for married couples.
The state, when determining whether you meet Medi-Cal limits,
considers certain assets "non countable" (e.g. IRAs) and some assets
exempt (e.g. residence, vehicle, household goods). Ask Heritage
Financial North to help you determine your Medi-Cal eligibility.
In order to receive my full Medi-Cal benefits, can I just
give my money away to family?
No. Doing so will cause ineligibility and impose penalties. Talk to
one of our specialists to discover better solutions for you and your
family.
What about our living trust? Does that exempt us from Medi-Cal
requirements?
While it is a useful legal device in many instances, it does not
protect your estate from Medi-Cal requirements and asset limits.
My spouse is in a nursing home already—is it too late for
financial help, benefits, and solutions?
It's never too late for smart financial strategies. Although early
planning is always better, steps can still be taken to assist you
and ease your financial burden. Ask the financial care professionals
at Heritage Financial North how to proceed.
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Veterans Pension Frequently Asked
Questions
Should I try to file a VA claim by myself?
In our opinion and strongly reinforced by the VA, the answer is
"No." The VA recognizes three groups to assist veterans in the
preparation, presentation, and prosecution of claims: VA accredited
attorneys, claims agents and the accredited Veterans Service
Officer’s (VSO). The claims process can be very frustrating is you
have not been trained and do not understand the law. You may be
denied outright or your claim may take many more months to complete
because of information request and exchanges between yourself and
the VA. We very strongly recommend that you use the services of a VA
accredited individual or organization, which includes state and
county veterans service agencies. There is no fee for using an
accredited resource.
Can you present and prosecute my claim before the VA?
Heritage Financial North does not get involved in the claim process;
our Senior Veteran Advocates understand the "winding Road" of the
process and help with all the pre-planning to ensure that we have
satisfied all of the VA’s qualifying criteria. Once all of the
criteria’s have been met a Veteran Service Officer will process your
claim and act as your advocate at the VA to ensure it gets through
all of the red tape in a timely and expeditious manner.
What if the veteran is already receiving a VA disability
pension?
There are two types of disability programs: Compensation and
Pension. These two rules apply: (1) For Aid and Attendance purposes,
the maximum amount of total VA payments cannot exceed the maximum
Aid and Attendance benefit. If a claimant is currently receiving a
disability payment, it will be deducted from the maximum and the
remainder awarded. (2) If the Aid and Attendance claimant is already
received, a service connected compensation amount that exceed the
maximum Aid and Attendance benefit, the claimant can keep one of the
other but not both. This usually means the greater amount of the two
is retained. In either case, the disability payment counts as income
for the purposes of determining total monthly income.
I divorced the veteran but receive his social security. Do I
qualify?
No. Social Security rules are different from VA rules. Normally a
divorce ends your eligibility. However, if a widowed spouse
remarried on or after 1/1/1971 and the marriage was terminated prior
to 11/1/1990, then the person is eligible as a surviving spouse.
What about previous marriages of either the veteran or a
surviving spouse?
The VA will require documentation of all previous marriages (a
marriage certificate or license) and evidence of how the marriage
ended (a death certificate or a divorce decree.) This is documented
to prevent cases of possible fraud or duplicate claims.
Why do you suggest not having more than a certain amount of
net worth?
Technically, we don't. There is no absolutely right answer here. The
VA uses several methods to determine how much net worth an
individual may have. The often repeated story that a claimant may
have up to $80,000 is false. A qualified VSO, VA accredited attorney
or your Heritage Senior Veterans Advocate can assist you to
determine an acceptable amount for VA purposes.
Can you help me protect my assets?
Yes, the Financial Professionals at Heritage Financial North are
surrounded by a team of Estate Planning & Elder Law Attorneys, Medi-Cal
LTC specialist's, Veteran Service Officers and other professionals,
to ensure we help you develop the most appropriate planning to meet
your specific needs. It is critical that those offering advice for
you planning needs understands VA, Medi-Cal & IRS law. These
programs are very different, and what may be acceptable under one
program may have adverse consequences under the other programs.
One of my parents is a qualified veteran; however, it is the
non-veteran spouse that requires assistance. They are both moving
into assisted living to stay together. Do they qualify for Aid and
Attendance?
It is always the qualified veteran that is due the benefit. The
spouse only has individually vested rights when he or she becomes a
survivor. In cases such as this, however there may be a way to make
a legitimate claim based on the age and physical condition of the
veteran. Please contact us for a more detailed discussion.
How long does it take the VA to adjudicate my claim?
That's really hard to say. Each Regional VA Service Center is
different in the time it takes to process an application, usually
based on work load. We have had some applications take as little as
30 days and some take 6 months or longer. The average is
approximately 6-8 months. If there is a diagnosis of any Dementia or
Alzheimer’s expect the process to take longer due to additional
steps that the VA has to take.
Can I receive military retirement pay and VA disability?
Yes, this is called concurrent receipt. Simply put, Concurrent
Receipt means that qualified military retirees will be paid both
their full military retirement pay and VA disability compensation.
This recently passed law phases out the VA disability offset, which
means that military retirees with 20 or more years of service and a
50% (or higher) VA rated disability will no longer have their
military retirement reduced by the amount of their VA disability
compensation.
Are pension and special benefits retroactive?
VA benefits are ordinarily retroactive to the first of the month
after the VA receives the application. Ex: If the VA receives your
application on August 15th and approves it in November, the first
check will have the months of September and October on the first
check. The November reimbursement will be made on December 1st and
on the first of every month thereafter as long as eligibility is
maintained. Recent changes in federal regulations also allow us to
request retroactive effective dates up to one year in arrears if
care expenses were being retroactive effective dates up to one year
in arrears if care expenses were being paid.
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Fees and Cost for Assistance
Do I pay any fees to Heritage Financial North?
Our Services are always completely free of charge to those we
assist. If our planning requires that we assist you in opening an
account with a financial institution we are compensated by the
financial institution in a similar matter as they would compensate
their own agents. If any planning requires Legal Council, Tax Advise
or other professional services, compensation would be directly
between you and those providing the service.
Getting Started,
Appointments and More information
How do I get started, schedule an appointment, or get more
information?
Consultations with a licensed Heritage Financial North
representative are offered by appointment only. For initial
questions regarding your personal situation, for more information or
to schedule an appointment for a free consultation, please
contact
us or call us Toll Free at (888) 579-0429.
We're here to help
Free of charge
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