Can hospital discharge you if you have a small IRA?

Question

The social worker is telling my retired mom (nearly 65) to deplete her IRA (her only savings) to pay for very expensive home health care (has no insurance and doesn't qualify because she is married of allt hings) like TPN and nursing and such. Even if she did this, it wouldn't be enough to cover everything (she has cancer and it most likely will recur after this course of treatments).

Can the County hospital force her out like this? Her IRA is small and her bills for the last 4 months are enormous. The IRA has to be used for her basic living expenses, but the hospital doesn't want to hear any of that. If she refuses to pay for the home care, then what happens? The Dr wanted to keep her in for at least another week to see how the tumor goes.

I just don't want my mom to be broke and homeless and having cancer!

No she really didn't care, she said what other social workers said (based on where we live, this is the reality): she needs to divorce her husband, go broke and be homeless i order to qualify for any benefits. I think this is horrible for a nearly 65 year old woman battling advanced cancer...she is literally months away from relief with medicare

Ooops...I mean the social worker really didn't care.

Answer 1

The reason they are telling her to spend her IRA is that in order to qualify for Medicaid. However, Medicaid has look back provisions to prevent people from disposing of assets strictly for the purpose of qualifying for Medicaid.

Medicaid is a joint state and Federal Government program to provide health care for the poor. The specific rules differ from each state as far as the amount of assets the patient is allowed to keep.

However, in this case since she is not going into a nursing home, the disposing of assets may not apply. Medicaid, in order to qualify does require that if you have liquid assets that you spend them first before Medicaid will pay.

Medicaid qualification is based on need and takes the persons income and assets into account. The reason they may have suggested that she get divorced is it will reduce her assets to the point where she would qualify.

If she can hang in there until Medicare takes effect when she turns 65, that will cover her expenses from that point on.

The hospital can discharge her. However, if they are a county Hospital, they can not refuse care if she needs it.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

I think there is some confusion , I think she meant to deplete it but NOT on the medical bill . . . I think she meant it so she could qualify for Medicaid.
Go back and talk to the social worker again, ask if she intended for the IRA to be spent on the hospital bill OR, just used so that she would qualify for Medicaid (which has I believe, a $2000 max asset base for eligibility)

Answer 3

The hospital isn't discharging her because she has an IRA. They are discharging her because her treatment can be done on an outpatient basis, rather than inpatient.

If she refuses to pay for home care, she can go live with you, or you can go live with her, or she can live by herself with no home care, or she can enter assisted living, if she's not capable of living on her own.

Medicare (aka, the public dollar) isn't going to pay for long term care while she still has personal assets that can be used to cover it.

Effectively, she CAN pay, she just doesn't want to, and you want free care for her so she doesn't HAVE to pay. That's called government health care; you can always move to Canada or the UK to use their system. The waits are really long, though.

Answer 4

That is a government regulation. She is not allowed to have more then $2,000 in total assets. If she cannot pay then medicare kicks in. The hospital is not required to treat her if she cannot pay. The only way that they have to treat her is if she is an ER case. If she cuts her hand off they HAVE to treat her. If it is not urgent like that they do not. Cancer is not an ER case. Sorry! She has to find a way to pay. She does not have a legal ground to demand treatment from the hospital.

Answer 5

If she pays something on the bill,and they cash the check or take the payment;they can't say she didn't try.They are just trying scare your mother,they know she is sick and maybe confused under medication.tell her to not sign anything.There is a law against things like this.I have noticed at this time of the year,bill collector come out of the wood work,before the new year.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

The hospital cannot legally discharge her because of her financial situation. Is this a non for profit hospital? because they have regulations or quotas they have to meet as far as giving servies to the uninsured. If I were your mother I would threaten the social worker, tell her that her practices are unethical and that your mother is going to contact department of insurance.

Answer 8

Sometimes things with the government never make sense. Finances are one big mess, no matter what the problem is. She will probably have to do what they say. It is a shame, since the government wants us to save on our own. You can see how that would go!

Answer 9

yes