Medicaid-How long does it take?

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I work in hospice. My patient applied for medicaid in August and was approved for medicaid in August. My mother's lawyer applied for medicaid on June 15th for my mother who has alzheimer's and CHF and still has not received an answer. How long does it usually take to get a yes or no answer in regards to applying for medicaid? Thanks for any assistance or advice.

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Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.
I work in hospice. My patient applied for medicaid in August and was approved for medicaid in August. My mother's lawyer applied for medicaid on June 15th for my mother who has alzheimer's and CHF and still has not received an answer. How long does it usually take to get a yes or no answer in regards to applying for medicaid? Thanks for any assistance or advice.

How long depends on the state in which you live. Here's a link to the government's Medicare & Medicaid website, which may help in giving you an answer:

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MedicaidGenInfo/

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:( Unfortunately, I didn't find an answer at that site to let me know how long the wait usually takes. However, thanks CseMgr1.:wink2: That site is a very good site to find out information about medicaid.
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Hmmm. Usually the long time for waiting for something with Medicaid is the prior approval for things like medical supplies, medical equipment, certain medications etc.

Usually when Medicaid is applied for it's pretty fast getting an answer if you have been accepted or not..................maybe check to see if it was approved but just no medical card yet......................Call up the Medicaid office for your state and you can say something like the card hasn't come yet, a card was never recieved, or maybe it was lost in the mail.......stuff like that.

It should of come pretty fast if there was an approval........

Funny how when they send a letter of denial ..that comes faster than anything.....:rolleyes:

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Thanks KellieNurse06.:wink2: Yes I think I better call Mom's lawyer and find out what is going on. Mom paid her elder care lawyer big bucks to have him apply for medicaid for her. If he doesn't have an answer then I will call the office myself. Mom thought that by having her lawyer file that there would be no hassles and that she would get it right away.:madface:

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Well.....hopefully the lawyer didn't "forget" to file........Medicaid is such a small form..you actually could of filled it out for her for free yourself........That sounds fishy to me that a lawyer was paid to fill out a Medicaid application, especially if your mother has Alzheimers .. that would be a red flag to me.....jmpo.........not to sound like gloom & doom..........but you know how some people try to take advantage of others...sadly. The only reason I know those things about Medicaid is because my job waitressing had no insurance ....so I had to have insurance..and I got Medicaid.......They forgot to send my card so when I called I had the card in 2 days...........Is your mother applying for Medicaid or MediCare??? MediCare takes longer to hear from......and with all those new rules & co pay things it can take a few months....... but I would personally be right on top of that just so you know your mother wasn't taken advantage of.....hope fully that isn't the case, I am sure.......but you just never know these days........well good luck....please let me know what happens! :icon_hug:

p.s. I would call Medicaid or MediCare...heck both......and ask them first...so then you can call the lawyer & find out if he truly did apply when you ask questions..that way if he is bluffing you already spoke to the insurance people...........you HAVE to be one step ahead of people sadly......well good luck!

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Thanks KellieNurse06. Yes, I will call the medicaid office on Tuesday and then call Mom's lawyer. The lawyer said he filed for medicaid on June 15th. He said that he would be present if necessary for any medicaid hearings and would make sure she got on the COPES program too. The COPES program according to the lawyer, will pay me to stay home and take care of Mom. I sure hope he is honest and not a con-man. :uhoh21:

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Specializes in psychiatric ER, Mental Health.
Thanks KellieNurse06. Yes, I will call the medicaid office on Tuesday and then call Mom's lawyer. The lawyer said he filed for medicaid on June 15th. He said that he would be present if necessary for any medicaid hearings and would make sure she got on the COPES program too. The COPES program according to the lawyer, will pay me to stay home and take care of Mom. I sure hope he is honest and not a con-man. :uhoh21:

Medicaid really shouldn't take this long. Sometimes the lawyers seem to slow the whole process down. For some reason most of them feel that they are "exempt" from deadlines, submitting some documents, or just dont seem to follow up with it. In my experiences with Medicaid, unless there has been some sort of major transfer of funds, or missing documents, it should have gone through by now. If there were no assets to begin with, then the application should be pretty straightforward. Is it for community Medicaid, or nursing home? Also, that is great that there would be a program that would allow you to care for you. Would love to know more about that. what state are you in?

~ear

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Thanks KellieNurse06. Yes, I will call the medicaid office on Tuesday and then call Mom's lawyer. The lawyer said he filed for medicaid on June 15th. He said that he would be present if necessary for any medicaid hearings and would make sure she got on the COPES program too. The COPES program according to the lawyer, will pay me to stay home and take care of Mom. I sure hope he is honest and not a con-man. :uhoh21:

I know Medicaid won't pay you to stay home & care for your mom ( at least not if you lived in my state)........that sounds like a crock was told to you from that lawyer (to me).......my daughter is severly disabled and medicaid won't pay me to take care of her, if they did, I wouldn't be going to school to be a nurse, nor would I have nursing care for her in my home......I mentioned that jokingly to the nursing agency case manager a long time ago & she said that would be nice if they did do that...........they will pay for home health aids, & nursing if needed but I know they will not pay for a relative to take care of a loved one. Does this lawyer know what they are talking about??? It may be different in your state, but I know this is not true where I live................maybe ask Medicaid that when you call also..........they may laugh at you on the phone at that one...........no offense! Seriously though......this lawyer doesn't sound like he/she is being honest with you..................just my opinion............Please let me know how it goes......ok? Something just doesn't sound right here with this lawyer......I hope I am wrong but my gut feeling says, or screams I mean..."Beware!!!"..........sorry!

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Medicaid wont pay a family member to be a caregiver in PA--viewed as conflict of interest. They WILL provide support program for caregiver, reimbursement for personal care supplies and patient can be enrolled in nursing home diverson program which WILL provide caregivers from list of contracted providers.

Best wishes for you and mom. Just contact area office of aging to get services started --look in blue pages phone book under Senior Services. NO lawyer necessary...I make about 5 calls per week and can get patient eval started usually in 2 weeks in Philly area.

Your state MAY require MA51 form--filled out by doctor, which documents that she is nursing home eligible. Programs in my area now allow self declaration and nursing agency/hospital can submit info.

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Medicaid wont pay a family member to be a caregiver in PA--viewed as conflict of interest. They WILL provide support program for caregiver, reimbursement for personal care supplies and patient can be enrolled in nursing home diverson program which WILL provide caregivers from list of contracted providers.

Best wishes for you and mom. Just contact area office of aging to get services started --look in blue pages phone book under Senior Services. NO lawyer necessary...I make about 5 calls per week and can get patient eval started usually in 2 weeks in Philly area.

Your state MAY require MA51 form--filled out by doctor, which documents that she is nursing home eligible. Programs in my area now allow self declaration and nursing agency/hospital can submit info.

Good post !!!! Lots of info! Glad someone who knows for sure was able to interject!

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Thanks ear, KellieNurse and NRS Karen. Yes I am concerned about this lawyer.:madface: He told me he filed for community medicaid on June. 15th. I live in Washington state which has a special program called COPES. I looked up COPES and according to their program they will pay a family member except a spouse to care for a family member. COPES is only available in Washington state. The lawyer said the state does it because it saves the state money as nursing home care is much more expensive for the state than home care.

Anyway, I'm hoping for the best. Thanks again for your help.:nurse:

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