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Comment by bloppe | Hacker News Reader

Someone with savings could take advantage. Medicaid is not actually means-based. It's income-based. In many states like California, so is SNAP. So a multi-millionaire can actually get free health care and $300/mo for food as long as they don't have income that year. Spend that time working on something that won't pay off for a few years, and you get a ton of benefits, even though you're already rich.

It's pretty bonkers.

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Someone who had a business which is producing little or no income gets full coverage from the Medicaid, snap, etc safety net.

I don’t see a problem with this. I know people whose businesses produce a small profit or no profit at all and pay themselves a small salary. They also employer other people, who make a lot more than they do in wages. The government wants to strongly incentivise this kind of activity.

Except for the fact that the application paperwork requires disclosure of assets, even an insurable collection qualifies against a 'lack of income', and will need to be declared. Failure to disclose risks committing fraud, subject to recovery of assistance and prosecution. So, no, not really.

I can assure you that I asked this question explicitly to the Medicaid case worker I spoke to on the phone. "Are you sure my bank account does not matter?". They said no. I don't like it either.

No, it doesn’t. You can have a million dollar home and it doesn’t count.

Passive interest income needs to be declare, or dividends, but just owning a depreciating asset doesn’t count. The one exception is qualifying for Medicaid nursing care in old age - that does require liquidating assets except for 1 car and a primary residence.

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