I pay for his monthly care out or our social security checks and a small pension that I have. The facility recently raised his daily care fee to $150 a day. I fear that rate is going to be increased eventually. I cannot apply for Medicaid at this time, we have too much in assets. I read about the pay down to qualify for Medicaid, but what about my living expenses. I also need income to pay for all the bills that I have to pay and money for his other expenses. This has me worried and is on my mind all the time.
I certainly understand your dilemma! I would love a better answer myself.
For expert advice you need to go to an expert and I don't mean a "Forum Expert". I mean one for your own area who has a Fiduciary responsibility to protect you. See an attorney in elder care.
Good luck.
There are many options. Be certain you UNDERSTAND fully any vehicle sold to you. And understand that when you are told the sales people or company has no fiduciary responsibility to you (which your CPA and your Elder Attorney DOES have under that law), just understand what that means.
Assuming they accept Medicaid, and Medicaid can cover the totality of his care, then I would explore a medicaid annuity. When set up properly medicaid annuities convert your collective countable assets and convert them into a non-countable income stream for you (the community spouse). These cost several thousand dollars to set up, but likely could have your husband qualified for Medicaid as soon as it is set up, and Medicaid would then cover the cost of his care (after taking his co-pay) for as long as he stays in the facility.
To answer your question more specifically, when you are not using a medicaid annuity, most states take the totality of your assets as a couple on the first day of the first month he entered a medicaid facility. From there, they divide that number of assets in half and so long as the half falls between roughly 29k and 148k you get to keep that as the "community spouse". The other half must be spent down. The states I just described are called "50% states". Some other states just have a specific amount you're allowed to keep as the community spouse (like Florida).
Regardless, a medicaid annuity, is probably something you should look into, for it avoids all of this mess by converting all of your assets into income that is not countable by Medicaid when done properly. **This only makes sense as a technique if you're in a facility that accepts Medicaid.**
Not specific financial or legal advice!
You should have had you assets split before he started care. See and Elder lawyer. His split would go for his care and when almost gone Medicaid applied for.