One key Medicaid planning technique is to turn assets which DHS (Department of Human Resources) counts into assets they do not count. These resources are not considered for attribution, whether owned by one or both spouses. Resources that do not count in the attribution process also do not count when determining eligibility. Do not count for either the attribution process or eligibility:
- One vehicle regardless of value.
- Burial and related expense funds for each spouse that are separately identified and set aside for that purpose. Each spouse may have a fund or multiple funds but no more than $1,500. Subtract from this $1,500 limit the total face value of excluded whole life and term life insurance policies and any amounts in irrevocable trusts or arrangements available to meet burial and related expenses.
- Burial spaces held for either spouse or any other member of the immediate family.
- Disaster Relief Act Assistance and Emergency Act Assistance or other assistance provided because of a Presidential declaration of disaster. Exclude these resources and any interest earned on the funds for nine months, beginning with the date of receipt. (These funds may be excluded for a longer period, if good cause is shown.)
- Household goods and personal effects, regardless of value.
- Housing assistance paid by HUD or FMHA for housing occupied by the community spouse.
- Life insurance policies with a total face value of $1,500 or less for each spouse.
- Property in a homestead, including the home and related land.
- Property used for self-support of either spouse if it would be excluded by SSI.
- Real property up to $6,000 if it is earning six percent of equity.
- Relocation assistance provided by a state or local government which is comparable to assistance provided under Title II of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970.
- Resources of a blind or disabled person who has a Plan for Achieving Self-Support, as determined by the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Department of Human Services, or the Department for the Blind.
- Resources necessary for self-employment.
- Retirement funds if the member or the member’s spouse has to quit a job or claim hardship in order to withdraw them.
- Shares of stock held by natives of Alaska in a regional or village corporation. Exclude for the 20 years in which the stock is inalienable, as provided in Sections 7(h) and 8(c) of the Alaska Native Claim Settlement Act.
- Underpayment of SSI or Social Security that is due either spouse for any month before the month it is received. Exclude for six months after receipt.
- Victim’s compensation from a fund established by a state for victims of crime. Do not count the assistance for nine months from receipt. The applicant must prove that the payment was for expenses incurred or losses suffered as a result of a crime.