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I can speak of the present situation concerning NH cost. If one receives a pension, social security, IRA, etc. then they DO NOT OF COURSE allow you to ever be medicaid and of course medicare does not cover NH. The exception to this that medicare does pick up 100 percent for a few days and then 80 percent for up to 100 days (or less) if one goes to NH following a 3 day hospital day if one qualifies for skill care vs intermediate care. Remember that medicare does not pay NH except in the circumstances temporarily. And remember the difference between MEDICARE AND MEDICAID. Mel was admitted to NH 11/13/97 and was due to come off 'medicare' on 2/2/98. At 1:30am he went to hospital in renal failure and subsequently went on dialysis (we knew it was enevitabel). Stayed in the hospital 3.5 weeks very ill then sent back to NH on 3/27. At present he is paying privately for a skill bed $96/day. If he stablilizes, he'll go into intermediate care at $73.50/day. We had to pay the $73/day while he was in the hospital to hold his bed at the NH also. The MD wanted to put him in skill care at the hospital to build his strength back up but was not allowed by medicare as he had used up his SKILL DAYS. It is my understanding that he can go back on medicare after 60 days off of it if he qualifies for skill care. A plus for us at the moment is that the ambulance is paid by medicare if he's bed bound (to go across the street to outpatient dialysis). I went to a planning meeting today and even if he could go by lift van there, he would have to come back by ambulance as dialysis wipes him out. He assures me however that he feels no pain while there. The NH home told me he does qualify for the ambulance at the present time. A nice note. March 7th was our 17th wedding anniversary and since I couldn't bring him home for the day as hoped, I brought in flowers and his favorite chinese food. We put the table between us - he was in good form that day and fed himself. The evenings are long---so I write long posts to past the time--ha! So don't give all your money to your children hoping to qualify for medicaid if you have a good monthly income as it won't be allowed. And remember if you do give your money away, medicaid looks back 3-5 yrs. and will hold you responsible for pay.