This document discusses a recent change to Medicaid rules in Texas that allows retirement accounts like IRAs to be converted into annuities, making them exempt from counting as assets for Medicaid eligibility. This opens opportunities for financial advisors to help clients qualify for Medicaid assistance with long-term care while preserving their retirement savings. An example is provided of how purchasing a $200,000 annuity could allow a married couple with a $300,000 IRA to qualify for Medicaid for a spouse in a nursing home while keeping assets for the at-home spouse. Legal expertise is recommended to properly navigate Medicaid rules, as improper advice could result in legal consequences.

1. November 2016
Interested In Blowing Up Your Annuity
Sales AND Helping Your Clients?
The Most Important Change In Medicaid Rules For Financial Advisors In A Decade.

2. In recent months, the Texas Long-term Care
Medicaid made an enormous change to the
rules.
✤ This change has the potential to explode your
annuity sales.

3. Imagine telling a client that you can help
them get the care they need all while
saving 100% of their IRA assets in the
process

4. ✤The need for long-term care is
exploding as our population ages.

5. ✤Long-term care expenses can
exceed $60,000.00 annually for
one individual.

6. ✤This not only impacts the
economic security of the family,
but reverberates around that
family.

7. ✤If you, as a financial advisor,
manage an IRA for a client who
needs long-term care, you watch
as the account slowly dissolves into
nothing…

8. ✤It is not just the family’s bottom
line being affected, but yours as
well.

9. Spending Those Precious
IRA Assets Was, In Most
Cases, Unnecessary.
✤Only around 7% of the
population that needs
long-term care
actually has long-
term care insurance.

10. Spending Those Precious
IRA Assets Was, In Most
Cases, Unnecessary.
✤Few can privately pay
$5,000.00 to
$7,500.00 per month
without taking a
significant hit to their
retirement assets.

11. Spending Those Precious
IRA Assets Was, In Most
Cases, Unnecessary.
✤That leaves
qualifying for
Medicaid.

12. Long-term Care Medicaid is the only
government program available to pay
for nursing home costs.

13. The most important change in
Medicaid rules for financial
advisors in a decade
Medicaid

14. ✤ Medicaid determines eligibility for an individual
by dividing their assets into:
countable resources and
non-countable resources.

15. ✤The non-countable resources
have no effect on eligibility

16. Getting someone qualified
for Medicaid is a matter of
either:
✤spending the countable
resources
✤transferring them in one
of the Medicaid
permitted ways
✤converting the resources
from countable to non-
countable.

17. So Why Does This Matter To A
Financial Advisor?
✤ The home is a non-countable asset
✤ IRAs, however, are generally countable

18. It No Longer Has To Be
This Way

19. Due to a recent change in Texas
Medicaid Policy:
IRAs and other qualified accounts may be
treated as either
✤ countable
OR
✤ non-countable

20. …simply because of the investment

21. Retirement
Related
Annuities
are NOT a
countable asset for
Medicaid eligibility

22. Take for
example
✤ A married couple with:
a home,
car and
$300,000.00 IRA
need only have you purchase a
$200,000.00 qualified annuity
✤ the spouse in the facility can
qualify for Medicaid
✤ while the retirement assets
are preserved for the spouse
at home

23. “There Is No Better Result Than
When Everybody Wins.”

24. Lining up assets so that a person qualifies for Medicaid is legal surgery and
the consequences of doing it wrong can be just as catastrophic. Not to
mention that any non-attorney who advises a person on Medicaid
commits a Class A misdemeanor subject to jail and fines.
The Elder Law attorneys of Ross & Shoalmire, LLP have been advising
clients on long-term care asset protection and estate planning for years.
We assist clients across Texas and Arkansas with Medicaid, Veteran
Benefits, Wills and Trusts daily and have a dedicated team of elder law
attorneys and Medicaid/VA case workers that can help guide you and your
client on the right path to protecting your client’s resources and preserving
your book of business.
Initial consultations are always free of charge. Financial advisors can use
us as a resource at any time for answers to questions and guidance.