Divorce For Aid's Sake??

Divorce For Aid's Sake??

nekkid1@sbcglobal.net (DaVeer)	1/6/2004 9:50:47 AM
Hello to the group.....My wife and I have a predicament and were looking for some help and advice. My wife suffers from advanced multiple sclerosis and is leading a life that I would not wish upon anyone. We have had a constant struggle financially for several years with costs related to her illness on top of everyday living expenses. Las week, we were advised by her health insurance carrier (United Healthcare), that her health insurance coverage would be canceled effective 7/1/04. Apparently they are canceling all individual policies in the state of Missouri. In any event, she is now considered "uninsurable". What this means to us is that the $2500+/month prescription costs that we will now have to absorb will push us into bankruptcy. We have heard of people that have gotten divorced in order to get governmental assistance. For example, if we were to be divorced, my wife would be eligible for Medicaid which would pickup the overwhelming majority of our prescription costs. We would also be able to get assistance in sending our son to college next year. It seems that our only options are to go bankrupt or to get a divorce. Has anyone here had any experience with this type of situation or maybe point me in the right direction to get some additional information? This is not something that we look forward to doing but we feel we must explore the possibility. Does anyone know if we would still be able to live in the same household if we were to be divorced? What issues could arise from this situation? Any constructive comments/advice/help are greatly appreciated. Please do not view this as a cash grab as it is far from that. I want my wife to be able to continue to receive the health care that she has been getting and I would like my son to have the opportunity to go to college. This is the only way that we can think of to accomplish this and still be able to survive economically. Please do not condemn us for considering this option. We are in the process of exploring our options and a divorce is something that neither of us want. Thank You DaVeer



"Rob Duncan"	1/7/2004 8:28:08 AM
"DaVeer" <nekkid1@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message news:ioilvvkqugq92glsl7qg90t24asreneuuq@4ax.com... Hello to the group.....My wife and I have a predicament and were looking for some help and advice. My wife suffers from advanced multiple sclerosis and is leading a life that I would not wish upon anyone. We have had a constant struggle financially for several years with costs related to her illness on top of everyday living expenses. Las week, we were advised by her health insurance carrier (United Healthcare), that her health insurance coverage would be canceled effective 7/1/04. Apparently they are canceling all individual policies in the state of Missouri. In any event, she is now considered "uninsurable". What this means to us is that the $2500+/month prescription costs that we will now have to absorb will push us into bankruptcy. The ABC drug companies offer financial assistance to those who cant afford the drug or for those who have no insurance. We have heard of people that have gotten divorced in order to get governmental assistance. For example, if we were to be divorced, my wife would be eligible for Medicaid which would pickup the overwhelming majority of our prescription costs. Why would you need to get divorced to get Medicaid? Or is each state different? We would also be able to get assistance in sending our son to college next year. It seems that our only options are to go bankrupt or to get a divorce. Has anyone here had any experience with this type of situation or maybe point me in the right direction to get some additional information? This is not something that we look forward to doing but we feel we must explore the possibility. Does anyone know if we would still be able to live in the same household if we were to be divorced? No. You would have to live seperately. You would be divorced. What issues could arise from this situation? Any constructive comments/advice/help are greatly appreciated. Please do not view this as a cash grab as it is far from that. I want my wife to be able to continue to receive the health care that she has been getting and I would like my son to have the opportunity to go to college. This is the only way that we can think of to accomplish this and still be able to survive economically. Your son might have to get a job in order to save up enough for college. Many kids work to pay for school. I did. It sucked. Please do not condemn us for considering this option. We are in the process of exploring our options and a divorce is something that neither of us want. Thank You DaVeer Have you thought about selling off your assets in order to accomplish the above? A second mortgage might help put your son through a good community college. I hope you find the answers your looking for. I would check with the drug companies first, many here are getting free or discounted medicine. Ive never heard that Medicaid was only for singles though. Are you sure about that? Have you looked into Kaiser health insurance? I dont think they can turn people away. Im sorry Im of no help. Good luck. Rob



Rick	1/7/2004 8:28:23 AM
DaVeer wrote: Hello to the group.....My wife and I have a predicament and were looking for some help and advice. My wife suffers from advanced multiple sclerosis and is leading a life that I would not wish upon anyone. We have had a constant struggle financially for several years with costs related to her illness on top of everyday living expenses. Las week, we were advised by her health insurance carrier (United Healthcare), that her health insurance coverage would be canceled effective 7/1/04. Apparently they are canceling all individual policies in the state of Missouri. In any event, she is now considered "uninsurable". What this means to us is that the $2500+/month prescription costs that we will now have to absorb will push us into bankruptcy. We have heard of people that have gotten divorced in order to get governmental assistance. For example, if we were to be divorced, my wife would be eligible for Medicaid which would pickup the overwhelming majority of our prescription costs. We would also be able to get assistance in sending our son to college next year. It seems that our only options are to go bankrupt or to get a divorce. <snip> Thank You DaVeer You are leaving out a couple things here which you might have overlooked. First off, it might be a divorce on paper but it won't necessarily eliminate your financial obligations to her. You would be hard pressed to find a judge that will give you a wink and a nod under these circumstances and allow you to pay next to no financial support. If anything you will be paying hefty support. Even if you were allowed to pay next to nothing through the divorce proceeding the Medicaid program isn't that naive - they will expect you to be paying support and if you aren't will call it into question. The program has been hit hard by Federal cutbacks in the Bush years and isn't exactly generous these days. Some states have frozen new applications for Medicaid, some are charging monthly premiums for the insurance. The point being that it would be highly unlikely that you would be allowed to financially walk away from this situation via divorce. Medicaid has spend downs built into the program - if her income from alimony and assets are over a given dollar amount there will be a set spend down that will still have to be paid out of her own pocket before Medicaid will begin to pick up the tab. The other thing that will factor in is that she will most likely need to apply for Federal SSI - Supplemental Security Income - assistance as part of the Medicaid application process. Basically, if she's poor enough to meet the Medicaid financial criteria she would be poor enough to meet the SSI financial guidelines as well. SSI is a financial bailout for the very poor disabled that do not qualify for other disability insurance. It only amounts to roughly $700.00 a month in financial aid for an individual. But as with Medicaid it is a means tested program - if she has other income or assets she may not qualify. The SSI program won't allow you to divorce on paper and continue to support her financially by living together (or not.) All income is factored into determining her eligibility - including spousal support. SSI has the right to request copies of bills for her monthly expenses and if it cannot be shown that she is paying at least 50% of the household expenses from her SSI payment they consider it "receiving financial assistance from a third party" and will dock the SSI payments accordingly, in context of how much a third party is covering the household bills beyond 50%. I presume she is not be eligible for Social Security Disability insurance and/or Medicare due to lack of employment history. This is an all too common problem of a sole wage earner household where the non working spouse becomes disabled and has insufficient work history to qualify for SSDI and Medicare, and there has been no forethought to insure the non wage earner. But until you actually declare bankruptcy or walk out on her financially and otherwise - which I cannot imagine you doing - I don't think you are going to find a Federal bailout on this matter through a divorce proceeding. Nothing is easy about your circumstances, and I don't believe a divorce will easily fix it. If anything consult a divorce Attorney in your area before doing anything at all. Divorce law varies widely by jurisdiction - there may be a loophole between the divorce laws and the Medicaid program in there somewhere in your State. And only a divorce Attorney would know how to slide through it.

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