If we rent out her house, is she still eligible for Medicaid?
Any income after expenses derived from the rental of the home would be required to be reported to your state's Medicaid office and would be required to be applied toward her Patient Pay Amount to the nursing home. However, if the reasonable rent was only sufficient to cover the costs of maintaining the home, there should not be any additional funds to be applied toward the Patient Pay Amount. Medicaid laws vary somewhat from state to state so you should consult an elder law attorney to make sure that this applies in your state.
You also may wish to check with the lawyer that drafted the power of attorney to determine whether or not it is a Durable Power of Attorney and provides sufficient authority to act on your mother's behalf in this matter. It has been many years since attorneys drafted powers of attorney that were not durable in nature.
If your power of attorney is not durable, it will be necessary for you to be appointed by a court as her guardian in order to act on her behalf. If so, you should consult a local elder law attorney. If you do not know of any, you should go the website of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys where you can find the name of someone who can help you.
As parents age, there is always the possibility of having to place them into a nursing home. Siblings should always get power of attorney before this all takes place and the assests should be turned over to a family member "BEFORE" the parents become in need of being placed. Once you contact medicaid, you have nothing left. medicaid has full control over all assets once you place them on medicaid. When the parent dies, Medicaid comes in and takes over all assests. This is the only way they can get their money back for funding them for their care. Medicaid is not a free service. Keep that in mind. it is free only is you have no assests in your name and are in need of care. Such is welfare. Renting or selling the home doesn't help because medicaid have priority over the income. It's all part of the parents assest's.
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