The Lackawanna County Assistance Office is not going to ask you whether your mother has “too many assets.” It is going to ask for a list, item by item, and then classify each item as countable or not. The application is won or lost in that classification, and a family that has already built the list — accurately, with documentation, knowing which items are excluded — has a completely different experience than one that hands over a shoebox.
Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program is Medical Assistance, administered by the Department of Human Services, with managed long-term services and supports delivered statewide through Community HealthChoices. As of 2026 the countable-resource limit for a single long-term care applicant is $2,000, and a separate, higher resource limit applies to some non-long-term-care Medical Assistance categories — verify both figures with the County Assistance Office rather than assuming which one applies to your parent.
Lackawanna County brings a particular difficulty to this exercise. It has one of the oldest populations in Pennsylvania, in one of the oldest states in the country, and it has spent nearly a century losing working-age residents — the county’s population peaked above 310,000 around 1930 and is roughly 215,000 today. The practical result is a large number of seniors in Scranton, Dunmore, Carbondale and Old Forge with no adult child within driving distance to sit at a kitchen table and build this list. If you are reading this from another state about a parent here, that is the situation this page is written for. Pine Lake Life Solutions provides education and a free policy review only; nothing here is legal, tax, or Medicaid-eligibility advice.
In This Article
- Item One: The Home
- Item Two: The Car
- Item Three: Bank Accounts, CDs, and the Joint Account Trap
- Item Four: Retirement Accounts, and Pennsylvania’s Filial Support Law
- Item Five: Prepaid Burial and Burial Space
- Item Six: Life Insurance, Policy by Policy
- Item Seven: Everything Else on the List
- Where to Apply in Scranton, What a Month Costs, and Who Helps for Free
- Frequently Asked Questions
Item One: The Home
An unmarried applicant’s primary residence is generally excluded as a resource while the applicant maintains an intent to return to it, a declaration made by the applicant or by someone holding a valid power of attorney and recorded in writing in the file. Federal law caps how much equity may be held while the exemption applies; states elect a figure within a federal band that ran from roughly $730,000 to roughly $1.1 million as of 2025, and Pennsylvania uses the lower end. Verify the 2026 amount with the County Assistance Office.
In Lackawanna County the equity ceiling almost never binds. Scranton-area home values sit well below the national median, and a paid-off house here is frequently worth less than a single year of nursing facility care. The exposure is not disqualification, it is estate recovery: after the death of a recipient who received long-term care services at 55 or older, Pennsylvania may present a claim against the estate, and a modest house is usually the whole estate.
Documentation to gather now: the county property assessment, the deed as recorded with the Lackawanna County Recorder of Deeds, any mortgage or home equity statement, and proof of who lives there. Occupancy by a spouse, a child under 21, a child who is blind or has a disability, an adult child who provided care that delayed institutionalization for at least two years, or a sibling with an equity interest who lived there for a year before admission all change the analysis. The caregiver-child exception requires contemporaneous proof — a physician’s statement on the level of care, address evidence, employment records showing reduced hours — and it cannot be reconstructed persuasively at an interview.
Item Two: The Car
One vehicle is generally excluded regardless of value when it is used for the transportation of the applicant or a household member. That is a more generous rule than families expect, and it is one of the few places where a legitimate spend-down can produce something useful rather than just smaller.
The practical application in this county: an eleven-year-old sedan that fails inspection every spring is not doing anyone any good, and replacing it with a reliable vehicle is a permissible use of countable funds that converts cash into an excluded asset while genuinely solving a problem. If a family member drives your parent to appointments at the Scranton hospitals, that vehicle matters. Do not attempt this creatively — buying a $70,000 vehicle a month before an application invites scrutiny — but a sensible replacement is ordinary and defensible.
A second vehicle is generally countable at its equity value, meaning fair market value less any loan. Get a written valuation rather than guessing, and remember that a vehicle transferred to an adult child for nothing is an uncompensated transfer subject to the look-back, not a clever move. Document the mileage and condition of any vehicle you value below book.
Item Three: Bank Accounts, CDs, and the Joint Account Trap
Checking, savings, money market accounts and certificates of deposit are countable at their full value. There is nothing subtle about them, which is why the classification errors here come from ownership rather than value.
The joint account is the recurring problem. A parent who added an adult child to a checking account twenty years ago for convenience has created an account that Medical Assistance will generally presume belongs entirely to the applicant unless the family can prove otherwise with evidence of whose money went in. That presumption catches families both ways: a child’s own savings sitting in a joint account can be counted against the parent, and money the parent moved into a child’s sole name is a transfer subject to the look-back.
What to do. Inventory every account your parent’s name appears on, at every institution, including credit unions and any account opened decades ago and forgotten. Request twelve months of statements now and be prepared to produce five years — Pennsylvania long-term care applications are document-heavy and the look-back is 60 months. If a joint account genuinely holds a child’s money, gather the deposit evidence before anyone asks. And separate the accounts going forward, with counsel’s guidance, rather than leaving the ambiguity in place until an eligibility worker resolves it against you.
Item Four: Retirement Accounts, and Pennsylvania’s Filial Support Law
Treatment of an IRA or 401(k) depends on the applicant’s status and on the state, and the details matter enough that you should get the current Pennsylvania rule from the County Assistance Office in writing rather than from any general description. In broad terms, a retirement account in payout status — distributing periodic payments — is often treated as an income stream, while an account the applicant can liquidate at will is often treated as a countable resource at its cash value net of any tax penalty. Ask specifically which treatment applies to your parent’s account type and payout status.
Whatever the classification, do not liquidate a large retirement account in a hurry. Every dollar withdrawn from a traditional account is ordinary income, a large distribution can push the household into a higher bracket, and it can raise the Medicare premium surcharge two years later. A $150,000 IRA is not $150,000 of usable resource.
Now the Pennsylvania-specific item that belongs on any asset list here: Pennsylvania has a filial support law, and unlike most states where such statutes sit unused, Pennsylvania courts have actually enforced it. A widely cited 2012 Pennsylvania Superior Court decision held an adult son liable for his mother’s nursing facility bill. What that means for a family is not panic — the circumstances of such cases matter enormously and facilities do not routinely pursue them — but it does mean an adult child in Pennsylvania should not sign a nursing facility admission agreement without reading what they are personally agreeing to, and should have a Pennsylvania elder law attorney review any responsible-party or financial-agent language before signing.
| Asset | Countable for PA Long-Term Care MA? (as of 2026, verify) | Documentation to Gather Now |
|---|---|---|
| Primary residence, intent to return | Generally excluded, subject to the federal equity ceiling | Assessment, recorded deed, mortgage statement, proof of occupants |
| One vehicle used for transportation | Generally excluded regardless of value | Title and registration |
| Second vehicle | Countable at equity value | Written valuation, loan payoff figure |
| Checking, savings, CDs, money market | Countable in full | Five years of statements; deposit evidence for joint accounts |
| IRA or 401(k) | Depends on payout status; confirm treatment with the County Assistance Office | Statements, distribution schedule, plan type |
| Burial space items (plot, vault, marker) | Generally excluded without the burial fund cap | Cemetery contract |
| Irrevocable burial reserve or preneed contract | Generally excluded to state limits when truly irrevocable | Signed contract showing irrevocability; establishment’s preneed license |
| Whole or universal life cash value, face over the threshold | Countable at net cash surrender value | Written carrier statement, in-force illustration, loan balance |
| Term or group term certificate | No cash value; face counts in the aggregation test | Certificate, plan administrator confirmation of in-force status |
| Second property, camp, co-owned interest | Countable at equity value | Deed, assessment, appraisal |
| Collections, firearms, investment jewelry | Generally countable; ordinary household goods are not | Written appraisal |
| Annuities | Highly dependent on contract terms; attorney review required | Full contract, not the summary |
Item Five: Prepaid Burial and Burial Space
This category is where countable dollars can legitimately become excluded ones, and it is also where families make the most expensive avoidable mistake.
Three distinct treatments. A designated burial fund of a limited amount may be excluded when it is clearly set aside and identifiable. Burial space items — a plot, a vault, a marker, opening and closing costs — are treated separately from burial funds and are generally excluded without the same dollar cap. And an irrevocable burial reserve or an irrevocable prepaid funeral contract with a licensed Pennsylvania funeral establishment can move a larger amount of countable cash into an excluded arrangement.
The word carrying all the weight is irrevocable. A prepaid arrangement your parent could cancel for a refund is generally still a countable resource. An irrevocable one cannot be undone, which is precisely why it is excluded and precisely why it should not be signed on a funeral director’s assurance alone. Pennsylvania regulates preneed funeral sales; confirm the establishment is licensed for preneed, get the irrevocability in the document itself, and confirm the current excluded amounts with the County Assistance Office because these figures vary by state and by category.
The avoidable mistake: do not cancel or surrender an arrangement that is already excluded in order to “simplify” the application. That converts protected value into countable cash in a single afternoon and helps no one.
Item Six: Life Insurance, Policy by Policy
Life insurance is counted at net cash surrender value, not at death benefit, and only after a face-value test is failed. List every policy in force on the applicant — the insured, not the owner. If the combined face amount is at or below the applicable threshold, commonly $1,500 though states vary, the cash surrender values are excluded entirely. Above the threshold, the combined net cash surrender values become a countable resource against the $2,000 limit. Verify Pennsylvania’s current threshold with the County Assistance Office. Our explainer on cash surrender value keeps the two numbers straight, and how life insurance counts as a Medicaid asset works through examples.
Policy by policy: whole life has cash value and produces countable dollars, reduced by any outstanding policy loan. Universal life has cash value that may be falling as the cost of insurance rises — request a current in-force illustration, because a universal life policy quietly running out of account value is a problem regardless of Medicaid. Term has no cash value but its face amount counts in the aggregation test, so a term certificate can be the reason a small whole life cash value becomes countable; check separately whether a conversion right to permanent coverage remains open, since that right is exercised without new medical underwriting and is often the most valuable feature in a household where health has declined. Group certificates from a former employer or union are usually term, usually reduced at stated ages, and frequently lapsed without the retiree knowing — verify with the plan administrator. Small pre-need policies bought through a funeral home may already sit inside an exclusion; leave them alone.
When a policy is countable there are four routes, and surrender is only one. Reduced paid-up coverage ends the premium in exchange for a permanently smaller fully paid death benefit. An irrevocable funeral arrangement can absorb value within state limits. A life settlement sells the policy in the secondary market for a permanent policy with a face amount of roughly $100,000 or more on an insured whose health has declined; the federal GAO study of that market, GAO-10-775, found sellers typically received roughly 10 to 35 percent of face value and several multiples of surrender value on average. The comparison is laid out in surrender versus sale, and a free policy review for a Lackawanna County policy gives you the market number at no cost.
Selling is the wrong answer when the face amount is under roughly $100,000 and no market exists, when the policy already sits inside a valid exclusion, when the insured is in strong health for their age and offers will be low, and when a surviving spouse needs the death benefit. In a county where the house may be worth less than a year of care, that death benefit is often the survivor’s only reserve.
Item Seven: Everything Else on the List
The items families forget, in the order eligibility workers find them.
A second property. A camp in the Poconos, a hunting cabin, an inherited half-interest in a sibling’s house, a lot in Carbondale nobody has visited in a decade. All countable at equity value, all requiring valuation, and all frequently the reason an application is denied. Search the county records; a co-owned interest your parent forgot about is still theirs.
Personal property of value. Ordinary household goods and personal effects are generally excluded. A coin collection, firearms of collector value, a restored car, or jewelry held as an investment are a different matter. Do not conceal them and do not sell them to a relative below market — get a written appraisal and disclose.
Cash value in annuities. Treatment depends heavily on the contract’s terms and whether it is irrevocable and actuarially sound, and annuity planning is one of the most technical areas of Medicaid law. This is attorney work, not a do-it-yourself item.
Money owed to your parent. A loan to a family member, a promissory note, an unpaid legal settlement. These are resources. A note that was never documented is the hardest version of this problem.
Anything transferred in the last five years. The 60-month look-back means every gift, every below-market sale, every name added to a deed is reviewed and can produce a penalty period calculated against a state-published average monthly cost of care. Spending your parent’s money on your parent — care, taxes, debts, home repairs, a reliable car — is not a transfer and never creates a penalty. Most legitimate spend-down is exactly that unglamorous.
Where to Apply in Scranton, What a Month Costs, and Who Helps for Free
Applications for Pennsylvania Medical Assistance, including long-term care, are filed with the Lackawanna County Assistance Office in Scranton, or online through COMPASS, the Commonwealth’s benefits portal. Long-term services and supports are delivered through Community HealthChoices, and eligibility involves both a financial determination and a clinical assessment of need — start both rather than waiting for one to finish. For care options, waiver access, caregiver support and objective guidance, the Lackawanna County Area Agency on Aging in Scranton charges nothing and is a better first call than a facility’s admissions office. Free unbiased counseling on Medicare, benefit periods and appeal rights comes from APPRISE, Pennsylvania’s State Health Insurance Assistance Program through the Department of Aging. Complaints about an insurer, producer or settlement provider go to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.
On cost: as of 2026, published cost-of-care survey ranges put a semi-private nursing home room in the Lackawanna County market at roughly $9,800 to $11,000 per month and a private room at roughly $10,600 to $11,900, at or slightly below Pennsylvania’s statewide median, with assisted living in Scranton, Dunmore and the surrounding boroughs at roughly $4,300 to $5,400. These are Genworth-style ranges trended forward, not quotes; get the private-pay daily rate in writing. Our page on nursing home costs in Lackawanna County works through the arithmetic, and Pennsylvania’s asset and income limits cover the thresholds.
One last piece of advice specific to a county where many seniors have no family nearby. If you are managing this from out of state, the two things that will help most are a valid Pennsylvania power of attorney executed while your parent has capacity, and a local professional — an elder law attorney, and if needed a geriatric care manager — who can be in the room when you cannot. That is not an upsell; it is the difference between building the asset list correctly the first time and rebuilding it after a denial. Our page on nursing home Medicaid spend-down covers what the application itself will demand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is my mother’s Scranton house safe if she goes on Medical Assistance?
Generally excluded as a resource during her lifetime while she maintains an intent to return, and the federal equity ceiling almost never binds at Lackawanna County home values. The exposure is estate recovery after death for long-term care services received at 55 or older. Recovery is deferred while a surviving spouse or a child with a disability lives, and a hardship waiver process exists.
Does Pennsylvania really hold adult children responsible for a parent’s nursing home bill?
Pennsylvania has a filial support law and, unlike most states, its courts have enforced it — a widely cited 2012 Superior Court decision held an adult son liable for his mother’s facility bill. Facilities do not routinely pursue such claims, but no adult child should sign a Pennsylvania admission agreement without a lawyer reviewing the responsible-party language first.
We are both on my father’s checking account. Whose money is it?
Medical Assistance will generally presume the full balance belongs to the applicant unless you can prove otherwise with evidence of whose deposits went in. That cuts both ways: your savings in a joint account can be counted against him, and money he moved to your sole name is a transfer subject to the 60-month look-back. Gather the deposit records now.
Can we prepay a funeral to reduce countable assets?
Often yes, within limits, if the arrangement is genuinely irrevocable and made with a licensed Pennsylvania funeral establishment. Burial space items like a plot, vault and marker are treated more favorably than burial funds. Confirm current excluded amounts with the County Assistance Office, get the irrevocability in the document itself, and never cancel an arrangement that is already excluded.
How is a life insurance policy counted?
At net cash surrender value, not death benefit, and only after a face-value test. If the combined face amount of all policies on the applicant exceeds the applicable threshold, commonly $1,500, the combined cash values count against the $2,000 limit. Term has no cash value but its face amount counts in that test. Verify the current threshold with the County Assistance Office.
Where do we file in Lackawanna County, and how long does it take?
At the Lackawanna County Assistance Office in Scranton or online through COMPASS. Long-term services and supports run through Community HealthChoices, and eligibility requires both a financial determination and a clinical needs assessment, which should be started in parallel. Expect the process to be document-heavy, with five years of financial records required for the look-back review.
We live out of state. What matters most?
Two things. A valid Pennsylvania power of attorney executed while your parent still has capacity, because without it you cannot sign the application or the intent-to-return declaration. And a local professional — an elder law attorney, and if needed a geriatric care manager — who can be present when you cannot. The Lackawanna County Area Agency on Aging is a free starting point.
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Related Reading
- Nursing Home Costs Lackawanna County Pa
- Sell Life Insurance Policy Lackawanna County Pa
- Pennsylvania Medicaid Asset Income Limits
- Life Settlement Taxes Pennsylvania
- Sell Life Insurance Policy Berks County Pa
- Nursing Home Medicaid Spend Down
- Life Insurance Counts Medicaid Asset
- What Is Cash Surrender Value
- Surrender Vs Sell Policy
Pine Lake Life Solutions does not purchase life insurance policies and does not provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Information provided is for educational purposes only. Eligibility for any option, including life settlements, is not guaranteed and depends on individual circumstances, policy terms, underwriting, and market conditions. Consult independent legal, tax, or financial professionals before making decisions regarding a life insurance policy.