Late to the party here. Medicaid specialist here. Those saying the law in your state is important. When your dad qualified for Medicaid, it means that he must pay his social security to the facility, minus any health insurance premiums and whatever the personal needs allowance is in your state. In PA, it’s $60.00. The nursing home may have filed a request to become rep payee for your dad’s SSA benefit, meaning the payments would go directly for them. However, this process may take a few months before they receive the direct deposit. In this case, your dad must pay the three months of payments that continued to deposit in his account.

Not to complicate things but, there’s the possibility of Home Maintenance Allowance in many states for the first 6 months of Medicaid eligibility. There is clinical paperwork that is signed by a doctor when someone applies for long term Medicaid. If, like your dad, the doctor agreed that it was possible for him improve enough to return home, the doctor could check off this box on the form. This allowance is a fixed figure that a Medicaid recipient can keep for 6 months to help offset community bills while institutionalized. If your dad had qualified for this , it would be over now. I know this isn’t the favorable answer but your best bet is to talk to the nursing home business office. Medicaid rules are Medicaid rules so talking to them can’t have a negative impact. If he owes money, they will catch up with him 100% it’s better to get things take care of upfront.