Attorneys can help with Medicaid

To the editor:

I appreciated the article on Jim White (Feb. 10), the double amputee who was dropped from the Medicaid program because he was $28 a month over on his income. Unfortunately this kind of thing happens far too often. People are ineligible because either their income is too high (even as little as $1,397 a month is too high for some types of Medicaid) or because they have too much in assets, for instance $4,000 in a savings account can render someone ineligible.

The underlying problem is that if you are eligible, Medicaid can reach back several months and cover those bills. However if either your income or your assets were too high during that time, then Medicaid can’t reach back and you may be stuck with those medical bills. As you pointed out in the article, $28 a month in income resulted in his owing $36,000 in medical charges.

There are a small number of attorneys in Alaska who know how to get someone eligible. If you are ever in a situation in which you think you may need Medicaid, you should see one of us to make sure there isn’t something you should be doing to assure your eligibility.

Kenneth Kirk

Anchorage