Sale of a house effecting Medicare benefits

[Cole Soreano]

Please Help

Is there a real estate lawyer on here that could give me some guidance. I'm not looking for a free service and willing to pay for even a phone consult. Specifically dealing with Washington state

I'm am currently in discussions with my elderly neighbor to by her home. She is on Medicare and is concerned the sale of her home and making a profit off of it will effect her benefits. My question is does this sound correct?

Any information to piont me in the right direction would be much appreciated.

[JD Martin]

Quote from @Bill B.:

Also ask about the clawback time where Medicare will take all that money to pay for her medical care. 5 or 7 years I think?

 Just your regular Medicare benefits? No. Now if she has Medicaid or is already in government paid long term care, yes it will affect those benefits. The government will absolutely claim most of all of the proceeds of a home in order to make itself whole - that said, unless she lied about her assets, that usually happens on the front end of getting care. In fact one of my properties I bought from the court that was in the process of selling this gentleman's assets in order to be paid back for his managed care. That's why you need to think about these things at least 3-5 years before you think you might need them, as there are ways of asset protection for your heirs. 

If she just gets Medicare as her health insurance, selling the house won't make any difference as there's no income test for Medicare benefits or deductibles. In fact, she might even use some of the proceeds to purchase a long term care insurance plan and/or Medigap plan to help guard against these issues.