Can Medicaid Take My Stimulus Check

Stimulus Check: Does It Affect Medicaid And What If The Recipient Is Deceased

1. Will the stimulus check affect my SSI or Medicaid benefits?

The answer is no for up to 12 months after the month of receipt. The stimulus checks are being treated as income tax refunds. Under the Medicaid regulations, these funds are considered exempt for up to 12 months after the month of receipt. So long as those funds are identifiable in a bank account, they will not count toward your resource limit . By the end of the 12th month after receipt, the funds must be spent down below the resource limit, or they will become countable and may impact your benefits.

2. What if a stimulus check was received by a deceased person?

The IRS just issued guidance regarding stimulus checks and deposits received by deceased individuals. If an individual died prior to receiving the stimulus payment, the payment must be returned.

If you have received a payment on behalf of a deceased individual, you should follow the steps to return the payment to the IRS. If the payment arrives via a hard check, there is a box on the front of the envelope to mark that the individual is deceased, and you can drop the envelope back in the mail. You can also visit the IRS Q& A website here, and see Questions 10 and 41 regarding returning payments received by a deceased individual.

Has A Nursing Home Or Assisted Living Facility Taken Your Stimulus Check

Sadly, there have been reports to the Federal Trade Commission of nursing homes and assisted living facilities taking stimulus payments from their residents. The facility may claim that because the person is on Medicaid, the facility gets to keep their stimulus payment. This is not true.

With most nursing facilities currently closed off to the public, it may be more difficult to monitor your loved one’s finances if they live in a nursing home. If you are not sure what happened to your loved one’s payment, talk to the facility’s management. If you find out that the nursing facility has taken your or your loved one’s stimulus payment, report it to the Indiana attorney general’s office immediately. Then, file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

No Limitations On How You Spend Your Stimulus Payments

You can use the stimulus payment for anything you want. You can use it up all at once, or over the next year. You are not limited in how you use the money in the same way you are limited in the use of your SSI funds.

You can put the check into an ABLE Account, and then you can spend it at any time without the 12-month limit. Putting it into the ABLE account allows you to save the money for when you want to use it. Funds in the ABLE account do not count toward your resource limit.

If you receive unemployment benefits, it counts against you as unearned income for SSI/Medicaid purposes. You must report the unemployment payments to the Social Security Administration immediately. The unemployment payment will be considered income in the month received. If you still have some of it in your bank account the following calendar month, it will be counted against you as a resource. You can put up to $15,000 into an ABLE account so that the funds dont remain in your checking account the following month.

For more advice on stimulus payments and government benefits, Seek guidance at Weeks Law Firm and book a consultation with a government benefits lawyer.

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What Do We Do With The Stimulus Check For A Parent On Medicaid

For most of us, the prospect of $600 appearing in our bank account is a welcome gift. However, if our loved one is on Medicaid it can fill us with concern. How can this money be used? Will it result in our parent losing benefits? Should I just give the money to the nursing home? With the first stimulus, there were some open questions regarding how this money can be sued but we have a much clearer picture this time around. First, facilities have no right to this money. It is not considered income for public benefit purposes and will not be treated as a resource if it is spent within one year of receipt. So here are five ideas for how to use the stimulus check received by your loved one on Medicaid.

Can A Nursing Home Or Assisted Living Facility Take The Payment From Me

No. If you qualify for a payment, its yours to keep. If a loved one qualifies and lives in a nursing home, residential care home or assisted living facility, its theirs to keep. The facility may not put their hands on it or require somebody to sign it over to them. Even if that somebody is on Medicaid.

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What If My Spouse Or Ex

If you did not get all or some portion of your Economic Impact Payments you can file a 2020 tax return and claim these amounts on line 30 of the form. The IRS is referring to this as the recovery rebate and will allow you to claim any of the EIPs that you did not get in advance. You may get a denial letter from the IRS, but that is the opportunity to reply and explain your situation to the IRS. In this situation, Vermonters with a low income can contact us for help at the Vermont Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic by filling out our form or calling 1-800-889-2047.

Things Medicaid Recipients Need To Know About Their Stimulus Payments

If youre receiving Medicaid, here are a few essentials to know about your stimulus check.

• The money is yours to spend however you want. There are no restrictions on how you can spend the money, regardless of whether you live on your own or in a nursing facility.
• The payments do not count as income.

The payments dont count as income for tax purposes, and they also dont count as income for Medicaid rules. That means the stimulus payment doesnt affect a nursing home residents monthly payment, often referred to as the patient pay amount or share of cost. Heres an example from the National Center on Law and Elder Rights:

An unmarried resident receives $1,050 monthly Social Security benefit and has $1,800 in savings. Each month she pays the nursing facility $1,000 from her income, and keeps $50 for personal needs. After receiving the $1,200 stimulus payment in May 2020, her payment obligation to the nursing facility does not change. She continues to pay $1,000 monthly.

• You have a year to spend down the money. Medicaid recipients generally cant have more than $2,000 in their bank accounts. Additional money is considered a resource that you can contribute toward your care. But the extra $1,200 wont count against you for a full year.

Per the National Center on Law and Elder Rights: If you have $1,800 in a savings account and you get a stimulus check in May 2020 that boosts your savings to $3,000, you have until May 2021 to spend your savings back below $2,000.

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Did A Nursing Home Or Assisted Living Facility Take Your Stimulus Check

Do you or a loved one live in a nursing home or assisted living facility? Are you on Medicaid? If you said yes to both, please read on and prepare to get mad. Weve been hearing that some facilities are trying to take the stimulus payments intended for their residents on Medicaid. Then theyre requiring those people to sign over those funds to the facility. Why? Well, theyre claiming that, because the person is on Medicaid, the facility gets to keep the stimulus payment.

But heres the deal: those economic impact payments are, according to the CARES Act, a tax credit. And tax law says that tax credits dont count as resources for federal benefits programs, like Medicaid. So: when Congress calls these payments tax credits in the CARES Act, that means the government cant seize them. Which means nursing homes and assisted living facilities cant take that money from their residents just because theyre on Medicaid. And, if they took it already, get in touch with your state attorney general and ask them to help you get it back.

This is not just a horror story making the rounds. These are actual reports that our friends in the Iowa Attorney Generals Office have been getting and handling. Other states have seen the same.

Again, though: if this has happened to you or a loved one, find your state attorney generals office contact information at naag.org and talk with them right away.

What About People With Itins

You still need a work-authorizing Social Security Number to be eligible for this stimulus. However, there are important changes since the first round of stimulus checks.

• In the first stimulus rollout, any non-SSN holder on a joint return made everyone on that return ineligible. Big change: The new rounds of stimulus has corrected this problem. If you filed a joint return with a non-SSN holder, you are still eligible for the stimulus. See the below hypotheticals.
• Situation: A single tax filer has an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number but no Social Security number .
• This person is ineligible for the stimulus.

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Concerns About The June 12th Doh Guidance To Adult Home Administrators

• Though the guidance says that the facility cannot use the stimulus funds to cover arrearages, it provides an exception, allowing the facility to use the funds to cover arrears with “the residents written authorization” if the facility “previously provided written notification to the resident” of the arrears due.

• WARNING: Advocates have heard of some adult homes pressuring residents to sign “voluntary” agreements to use the stimulus payment to cover arrears, even if the resident had not known about the arrears before

What Should I Do If A Nursing Home Has Taken My Stimulus Check

If your loved one lives in a nursing facility and youre not sure if they received their stimulus check, talk with them as soon as possible. If you do know if they received their stimulus payment, you may need to ask the facilitys management for their policy regarding stimulus checks. If you suspect that their policy is unlawful, contact your state attorney generals office and then file a complaint with the FTC. It is advised that you not make any accusations that could impact the level of care your loved one receives. Simply take the information and report it to the proper authorities.

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How Do I Get Help Filing A Tax Return To Claim My Eip

• The IRS recommends electronic filing, and we agree. It is a faster, more secure option. Paper forms will take much longer to be processed by IRS. You may qualify for free e-file software.
• You can also call the Vermont 2-1-1 hotline and follow the menu options for tax preparation. Through this service you may be able to schedule an appointment with a free Volunteer Income Tax Preparation Assistance site. These sites are staffed by trained volunteers. They provide free preparation services to taxpayers who meet eligibility requirements.
• Also, you can find Form 1040 and Form 1040 instructions on the IRS website.

Stimulus Checks Ssi And Medicaid: Will Your Clients Be Affected

Many low-income Americans are wondering how and if their CARES Act stimulus checks will affect their needs-based government benefit eligibility. Injured claimants who rely on government benefits to survive may be even more fearful due to the realities of dealing with long-term medical impairments.

The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration responded to concerns in a blog post dated April 3, 2020. He wrote,

we will not consider economic impact payments as income for SSI recipients, and the payments are excluded from resources for 12 months.

In other words, the stimulus check will not affect eligibility for SSI, Medicaid, and other benefits that use asset tests to determine eligibility .

Caution Ahead for Injured Claimants

For injured claimants, the stimulus check may provide some financial relief during an already difficult time. However, those same injured claimants still need to work with their attorney and settlement consultant to put together a plan for preserving needs-based government benefits. Why? Because a lump-sum cash settlement typically exceeds the asset threshold for needs-based government benefits.

Even the largest settlement may not be sufficiently cover the lifetime cost of caring for an individual with acute medical needs. Preserving much-needed government benefits directly impacts whether or not a settlement will provide long-term financial stability and increased quality of life.

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Can A Nursing Home Take My Stimulus Check

Can a nursing home take my stimulus check? This is a question many seniors and their loved ones have been asking since the first round of stimulus payments.

In December 2020, Congress approved a second round of stimulus checks for individuals making less than $75,000 a year. These checks are being sent to everyone who is eligible. This includes individuals on Medicaid and those living in nursing homes and senior living facilities. However, there are continuing reports that nursing homes and other senior living facilities are taking their residents stimulus checks without their permission.

Stimulus Payments And Government Benefits

Last Updated on February 19, 2022 by Tresi Weeks

How will COVID-19 relief stimulus payments affect your government benefits? Weeks Law Firm provides a simple guide.

The federal government is issuing stimulus payments this week, to help with the recovery from the COVID pandemic. If you receive SSI or SSDI, the check should be deposited in the same manner as your usual check.

Does the stimulus money disqualify you from government benefits? Remember that you generally cannot have more than $2,000 in countable resources to receive certain government benefits. The stimulus check will not count against you as a countable resource immediately. You have 12 months to spend the stimulus money before it counts against you as a resource for eligibility for SSI and Medicaid.

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What To Do If A Nursing Facility Is Claiming A Stimulus Payment

You should contact both the FTC and your state attorney general office if a nursing facility has claimed a stimulus check that belongs to you or a loved one.

But if youre worried that this could happen, show the facility staff the FTC release and the materials linked, and let them know that youre aware that they cant take stimulus payments. This is a situation where showing that you know your rights will pay off.

Robin Hartill is a certified financial planner and a senior editor at The Penny Hoarder. She writes the Dear Penny personal finance advice column. Send your tricky money questions to

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Can My Nursing Home Take My Stimulus Check

Many people and households suffered serious financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, the federal government passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and. Economic Security Act, which, in part, provided stimulus checks to millions of Americans. Each adult who earned less than $99,000 per year should have received a $1,200 check to aid with the economic struggles of the pandemic. This included seniors in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

As time passed, reports began surfacing that some nursing homes were trying to require residents covered by Medicaid to sign over their stimulus checks to the facilities. Many unknowing seniors assumed this was a valid requirement and handed over their CARES Act payments. However, this requirement is wrongful, and nursing home residents should have been able to keep their stimulus funds.

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Invest In Professional Advice

Consider seeking professional assistance you may have previously forgone due to budgetary limitations. Whether its getting estate planning documents updated or seeking the advocacy of a geriatric care manager about a care issue, spending a little money now may save you a lot of aggravation and money in the future.

How Do I Get It

• The stimulus payments will be processed by the IRS.
• If you have already filed a 2019 tax return, you will get the stimulus payment automatically. You will receive it in the same form as your tax refund. If you requested direct deposit, then the stimulus will be direct deposited. If you requested a paper check, then the stimulus will be mailed to the same address on your 2019 tax return.
• If you entered your information into the IRS non-filer portal earlier in 2020, you will get the stimulus payment automatically. You do not have to do anything.
• If you receive one of the following benefits, you will get the stimulus payment automatically. You do not have to do anything.
• Social Security
• Veterans Affairs
• Railroad Retirement

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