Ask Our Experts
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2005-03-10 10:37:20
The AARP Bulletin's Ask Our Experts column provides answers to important questions affecting older Americans. Read below for this month's column, or review our archive of previously published questions and answers sorted by topic. (Note: Recent news or changes to regulations may affect the guidance offered in this previously published column.)
Submit your own question to the Ask Our Experts column via our easy-to-use online form.
Q. I am a U.S. citizen who left the country last year for a job in Ontario, Canada. Although I no longer contribute to Social Security, will I be able to collect on my earnings up to 2004?
Yes. The U.S. government has Social Security agreements with 20 countries, including Canada, that provide benefit protection for Americans who have worked in the United States and in other countries.
International agreements eliminate double taxation for Social Security, a situation in which a worker from one country works in another and is required to pay Social Security taxes to both countries on the same earnings.
Benefits are based on several variables, such as the individual’s work history, and on the regulations of the countries involved. To learn more, go to Social Security Online’s International Programs page. Or write to the Social Security Administration, Office of International Programs, P.O. Box 17741, Baltimore, MD 21235-7741.—Expertise provided by Laurel Beedon
Q. I had triple bypass heart surgery in June. I went back to work part-time, and my employer says it’s illegal for him to pay for my insurance benefits because I don’t work full-time. Is this true?
Health insurance coverage is an employee benefit that employers offer voluntarily. Federal law, however, requires that employers treat similarly situated employees alike.
So if your employer, for example, offers coverage only to part-timers who work a certain number of hours or more a week, then those rules must be applied uniformly to all other workers.
Call your state’s department of insurance and ask if state laws limit coverage of part-time workers. In addition, find out about other coverage options and consumer protection laws in your state by visiting a website maintained by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute.—Expertise provided by Geraldine Smolka
Q. Our mother would like to give a portion of her savings to her children and grandchildren. How will that affect her eligibility for Medicaid coverage if she goes into a nursing home six months from now?
Giving away assets is an issue if your mother enters a nursing home and expects to qualify for Medicaid. While Medicaid law is different in every state, certain general rules apply.
First, most states require that the person in the nursing home have no more than $2,000 in liquid assets such as savings or stocks. The value of a home is not counted when qualifying for nursing home benefits. However, the state will attempt to recover the cost of services provided from the sale of the home after the death of the beneficiary, so long as a spouse or dependent child no longer resides in it.
When an individual applies for Medicaid to pay for nursing home costs, the state will “look back” for 36 months (60 months for certain trusts) to determine whether the applicant transferred assets for less than fair market value for the purpose of qualifying for Medicaid. If so, there is a penalty period in which Medicaid will not pay for services. The length of the penalty period is determined by dividing the value of the transferred asset by the average monthly nursing home cost in the state.
If your mother gives away a substantial amount of money six months before entering a nursing home, it would be very difficult for her to prove that she did not do so for the purpose of qualifying for Medicaid.—Expertise provided by Enid Kassner
Q. To what extent, if any, are we legally liable for debts incurred by our parents while they are alive or after they have died?
As a general rule, adult children are not responsible for their parents' debts. But there are some exceptions. If you co-sign a loan or mortgage with a parent, you will have to pay if your parent cannot.
A parent’s debt can also reduce a child’s inheritance, since the debt must be paid before beneficiaries receive any money. And if a parent was a Medicaid recipient in a nursing home, some states will tap his or her estate to pay the nursing home costs, thus reducing the children’s share.—Expertise provided by Sally Hurme
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