<prompt> Human: My 87 year old great Aunt spent three months in a nursing home undergoing rehabilitative care. She now owes 28K to the nursing home. She has 24K in savings. After speaking with the social worker, she believes the best course of action would be to liquidate 10K of her savings, thus, qualifying for Medicaid the maximum savings threshold is 14K. She now wants to use the money to buy a laptop, phone, etc. Can anyone advise? I do not trust the advise of the social worker and am worried to see her waste a life savings on consumer goods she does not need.  <response>: I do not trust the advise of the social worker your great aunt also needs to talk to an accountant and possibly a lawyer to get second opinions. there is a medicare provision called a spend down where you can spend money on certain items to get your assets under the limits. but this is something she should not do simply on the basis of a social workers suggestion, because I dont know if it would apply to her situation. I dont know if a spend-down would apply to get medicare for outstanding bills. maybe yes, maybe no. but get a second and third opinion. 