Important Facts About Medi-Cal: The Home

Here in California you do not need to sell your home in order to qualify for Medicaid. The home is considered an exempt asset, if the Medi-Cal recipient has the intent to return home, and as such will not disqualify a person from Medi-Cal eligibility. The key to maintaining this exemption is the "intent to return home". May people erroniously believe that this the actual ability to return home or that it must be substantially likley that the Medi-Cal recipient will return home. Neither of these is the standard. Instead the standard is whether, if the Medi-Cal recipient was cured of his or her disability would that person want to return home. If the answer to this question is yes, then the home is exempt and will not be counted against the Medi-Cal applicant. As you can see from this standard, the home is always exempt as the Medi-Cal recipient would always choose to move home rather than continuing to live in a nursing home if cured of his or her ailment.