Houston Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney Blog
In Texas, the state provides Medicaid to those considered “low income” that meet certain threshold requirements. To qualify, you must be a low-income resident of Texas in need of heath care, and you must either be: pregnant, responsible for the care of a child, blind, disabled or caring for a person who is disabled, or 65 years or older. If you meet the requirements, you can submit your application, wait for the government to approve it, and eventually receive the state-sponsored benefit.
If you know that you will likely qualify for Medicaid at the age of 65, you can start to prepare for the process of submitting your application. This process will include filing out an online (or phone) form in which you answer questions about your household, your current income, and your assets. The government will be looking at your financial profile to ensure that you meet its requirements to receive Medicaid before it approves your application.
You might need several documents to supplement your application: these documents may include proof of your identity, a social security card, proof of citizenship, and documents proving where you live (many times, these documents end up overlapping with each other). You might also have expenses such as child support or loan payments that you will need to address. You should also be prepared to submit documents regarding your earnings, assets, medical expenses, housing expenses, and any current health insurance plan that you are using.
Gathering these documents can take a fair amount of time, so we recommend that you start well before your 65th birthday. It can also take the government time to review your application, and submitting the application as early as possible is always a good idea. Therefore, if you are in your early 60s and thinking that you might apply for Medicaid, start to look into the process now, so you don’t face any surprises or hurdles down the road.
Do You Have a Houston Public Benefits Attorney to Help You Apply for Medicaid?
If you have not yet spoken with a Houston public benefits attorney to help you sort through the government benefits that might be available to you, give our firm a call at McCulloch & Miller. It can be extremely difficult to think through all of the applications, screening tools, and documents that the government requires in order to receive public benefits. Our team of attorneys has decades of experience dealing with all of the hurdles that the government puts in place, and we are well-equipped to help you make sure you can navigate the process as efficiently and painlessly as possible.
We work with clients at all phases of life, and our specialty is making sure that Texans looking to receive public benefits have the best access to the legal help that they need. For a consultation with a member of our team, give us a call us today at 713-936-9073. You can also fill out our online form to have an attorney reach back out to you as soon as possible.