Nursing home as a representative payee

sancheza1215

I am my mother's Social Security representative payee and she is on Medicaid.  The nursing home has said they can be her representative payee and do the paperwork and that will let them reapply for Medicaid for her.  Does anyone have any opinions on that?

dayn2nite2

Ask them why they feel that’s necessary.  Are you long distance from where she’s placed?

I was my mother’s representative payee and my mother was on Medicaid.  Medicaid paid their share to the NH directly.  Every month I would write 2 checks to the NH out of my mother’s account.  One was for $60, which was the amount Medicaid allowed her to keep from her check for personal spending (which was deposited into a trust account for her use by the NH), and the other check was made out to the NH for what remained of her SS check, which was her portion of her NH cost.

The checks were delivered by me to the NH at the beginning of every month, as I was visiting 4 times a week.

Stuck in the middle

I am my son's Social Security representative payee, and I do the same.  Two checks to the RCF per month, one for his care and one for his personal spending account.  I prefer to keep control of his money so I can more easily move him if I want to - he has lived in four facilities in the past 20 years.  The facility still does the Medicaid paperwork.

Jo C.

In the state of California, it is not legal for NHs to be representative payees due to conflicts of interest.

Also, this can cause problem issues should the patient need to transfer to a different facility.

Here is a link where you can read more about it; just scroll down the document and you will come upon the information regarding NHs and representative payee status and issues:

 https://www.justiceinaging.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Skilled-Nursing-Facilities-and-Other-Creditors-Acting-As-Representative-Payees.pdf

J.