Medicaid Planning. A subspecialty of Elder Law is Medicaid Planning. Skilled Nursing Home care is expensive and it is not covered by Medicare. If you run out of money, it can sometimes be paid for by Medicaid. However, in order to quality for Medicaid (known as “MassHealth” in Massachusetts), you must be almost out of money and you can’t simply give away your money to children or others just to qualify. The situation can be more complicated if one spouse is in good health and the other requires skilled nursing care. With foresight and an experienced elder law attorney, Medicaid Planning can often preserve a significant portion of the family assets while qualifying an elder for nursing home benefits in the shortest period possible. Often times, clients can accomplish their goals and needs by creating Irrevocable Income Only Trusts. This planning should be done well in advance, as Medicaid planning must take into account the five-year-look-back period. In other words, transfers to a trust and/or gifts given to children within this period may still be counted as part of the assets when determining Medicaid eligibility. That being said, even without advanced planning, there are limited number of planning options such as immediate annuities that are available to families facing the imminent placement of a parent or loved one in a long-term care facility. We provide experienced representation for families in these types of situations. Our elder law attorneys understand the complexities of the laws and requirements for Medicaid.