I have a family member entering Nursing Facility in Louisiana. I spoke the Business office manager today and I ask her about the MERP. She stated Louisiana will not take a patient’s property after death if he has heirs or a will. And he does have both. She said she has been doing this since the 80’s and has only known if 1 because the patient had no family I’m really nervous about this. The property has been in my family since the 1800’s and I’m the heir. I grew up there and I would be devastated to lose it. Has anyone had experience with this?
I know that Texas will definitely come after reimbursement. My cousin received a 203k request 2 months after her dad passed or would take his 1 acre of land! Seriously!! Ours is more than one acre. I’ve been beside myself over this. We can not care for him at home as he is a total bed bound patient due to the anesthesia for heart surgery. TIA.
Recovery is strictly limited to the succession estate of the patient. Recovery is prohibited if it is not cost effective, and the first $15,000 or one-half of the median value of the homesteads in the parish of the deceased, whichever is greater, is fully excluded from recovery. Louisiana also provides an offset to recovery by reducing recovery by reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by the patient's heirs after the patient's admission to the long-term care facility in order to maintain the patient's homestead.
Also; Hardship Waiver - Louisiana statutorily prohibits the Department of Health from recovering in the case of undue hardship. A statutory presumption of undue hardship exists if an heir's family income is 300% or less of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Federal Poverty Guidelines, which are published annually in the Federal Register. There are also other conditions that would potentially give rise to undue hardship.
I’ve read too many horror stories about MERP. I have a tough time believing they won’t come for it.
Someone else had the issue so they never opened probate and didn’t get billed. So confusing.
How it works in my State is the home is an exempt asset when the recipient is alive. Medicaid has rules about who can live in it and if it can be rented. So unless there is a Community spouse, someone has to pay the upkeep or sell the house. My Moms house was up for sale because I could not afford the upkeep. When she passed the house had not sold and it became an asset. So a lien was placed on it. This lien would be satisfied at time of sale and the house had to be sold at market value. In my instance it was sold for enough to cover the Medicaid lien and tax lien. The only way to get out of selling it there would have been a family member who lived there and took care of the recipient for at least 2 yrs and would remain living there, a Community Spouse still living there or a disabled child living there at the time the recipient was. All 3 having to prove they could upkeep the house.
I was told by Medicaid a Will meant nothing. A Will is for "just in case". If the persons assets are needed to pay for the persons care then thats how it is. This woman may be correct but I would want that info confirmed. Also, a person is only allowed exempt status on the home they were living in. All other property needs to be sold for their care.
You need an attorney. We are just folks. This is a legal question you cannot afford to be wrong on.
I would get another opinion, preferably from an elder law attorney.
https://ldh.la.gov/index.cfm/faq/category/24
https://ldh.la.gov/page/4062
It refers to the MERP rules for LA.