MassHealth: Medicaid in Massachusetts

by: Brian E. Barreira, Esq.

When applying for MassHealth, the assets of the applicant are scrutinized in detail.   Assets that are considered “countable” usually have to be liquidated and spent, while a few assets are protected because they are considered “noncountable.”

Since most assets are considered countable, it is perhaps easier to list and describe the assets that can be non-countable.  Among the assets that the MassHealth applicant is allowed to keep as noncountable assets, the most common would be:

• The applicant’s principal place of residence, unless its equity exceeds $750,000, and often only if the MassHealth applicant intentds to return home.
• For three months, the proceeds from the sale of the principal place of residence.
• The applicant’s car.
• Businesses and non-business property essential to self-support.
• Funeral or burial arrangements for the applicant and spouse, including burial spaces for immediate family members.
• Payments from the Veternas Administration  for Aid and Attendance, unreimbursed medical expenses, housebound benefits and enhanced benefits.  (It is usually advisable to keep these payments accumulated in an account that is separate from other assets and other sources of income.)
• Assets in certain Special Needs Trusts for the benefit of disabled persons.
• Assets in pooled trusts.
• Inaccessible assets.