Long Term Care Insurance Policy Many policies will allow the beneficiary to use a specified amount of benefit dollars to pay for home modifications in lieu of admission to an assisted living facility or skilled nursing facility.

Medicaid offers Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) through a waiver program. This program permits states to use Medicaid funds as an alternative to institutional care. Reimbursements for home modifications will sometimes be considered under the waiver program.

Medicare does not pay for home adaptations but does pay for some durable medical equipment. Medicare has sometimes been know to cover items not found on their general list of covered items if the request is issued with a doctors "Certificate of Medical Necessity" form (doctors should have these forms readily available in their offices). The doctor needs to give good justification that it would benefit the patient medically.

Tax Deductions The IRS allows people with disabilities to claim as a deduction the cost of some home modifications as medical expenses if the home modifications are paid out of personal savings. You can only deduct medical expenses to the extent that they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income. It is therefore best to bunch qualified home improvements into one year.

Insurance Coverage of Home Modifications In some cases, automobile insurance policies, worker’s compensation programs, state catastrophic accident insurance plans, medical trust funds or other insurance programs will pay for home modifications, particularly if the need for home modifications arose as the result of an accident or injury. These plans often provide payment for the equipment and/or structural modifications needed to promote independence and safety.

For more information on funding sources contact us.

The above is informational only and should not be taken as legal or tax advice. Consult your attorney or CPA for legal or tax advice.