October 1, 2020 | Medicaid Benefits
Medicaid Eligibility for Seniors
- AlerStallings
Who Is Eligible for Medicaid in OH
If you live in Ohio and you are struggling to pay for medical care in your senior years, you might want to consider whether Medicaid could help you. Medicaid is available to help pay for certain types of care, subject to income limitations, which can be particularly helpful to the elderly. Here is a brief explanation of the eligibility requirements in Ohio. By understanding the qualification requirements, you will be better positioned to determine whether to seek Medicaid assistance.
Qualification for Services
Before considering whether your income level qualifies you for Medicaid, you might want to be sure that the service for which you are seeking assistance qualifies. Generally speaking, Medicaid will be available to help pay for necessary medical care.
In order to qualify for coverage as a senior, there must be both an income guideline met, in addition to having a need for medical care. Necessary medical care includes dental care, assistance with emergency room visits, hospital visits, inpatient or outpatient procedures, preventive health services, long term nursing care and more.
It is also possible to have Medicaid pay for you to receive nursing home levels of care, while you remain living at your home. This is known as PassPort, and is a Medicaid waiver program. However, in order to qualify for PassPort, the following must be met: you must have someone willing to care for you while you reside at your residence, you must meet the income requirements noted below and the cost of your PassPort care must be less than it would cost if you were to be in a nursing home.
Income Requirements
Medicaid is intended to assist those people who may be at a financial disadvantage. To get Medicaid in Ohio, you must be a resident of the state and you must make less than the threshold income level. You must also not have given anything away within the last 5 years . This 5 year “look-back period”, exists because Medicaid wants you to use your money/assets to pay for the care you need and will penalize you for all gifts made during this “look-back period”.
The income cutoff changes every year and depends on the size of your family. For example, in 2020, a person making less than $18,324 per year would be eligible for Medicaid. These figures are before taxes and other expenses are deducted from your check.
If you are not sure whether you qualify for Medicaid, check the Ohio Department of Medicaid web page. It will help you determine whether your income qualifies you, and can provide other valuable information as well.
