They could lose the house -- to Medicaid

[RobinA]

31. Well, Let's Say

you are an 75 year old widow. Husband worked, you tended house and raised kids. Your family had a decent middle class existence at the time. Hubby dies, leaves a small pension and and some SS. You hold onto the house for awhile, but the pension and SS don't allow for taxes and upkeep, so you have to sell. Once you sell you need a place to live, which costs money, and a car too. You use the house money for this. You have straight Medicare because you can't afford a supplement. Now you're 85 and you need help with living. While you were still independent you managed to save, because Mom and Dad always said to save, a small amount of money, maybe a couple thousand.

So your straight Medicare is not going to cover your assisted living, because you're left holding the bag for 20% of the cost. You have no assets except the $3000 you managed to save since hubby died. You have too much money for Medicaid, so everybody tells you to spend the money down so you can qualify for Medicaid. But that's the money you socked away, $10 at a time, because you're supposed to save for an emergency! You can't imagine just blowing it, you grew up during the Depression. That's your hard-saved $3000 standing between you and nothing. But ya gotta blow it if you want someplace to live, which goes against every fiber of your Depression era being.

That's what kind of program this is.