My mother passed away February 23, 2022. She was in a nursing home under medicaid. Her February social security benefit was deposited on March 3, 2022. I used that money to pay the nursing home which was required of medicaid patients. Social security also deposited her benefit for March on April 1, 2022. I recently received a notice that Social security had rescinded both those payments and her account is not left with a negative balance of $952. Is this legal? How do I get that February payment back? Where was the money supposed to come from to pay the nursing home for February. I called social security and they said the person has to be alive the full month in order to get their payment for that month. Is this true? Then who was going to pay the nursing home?

Hi. I'm sorry for your loss. Yes, you must live throughout the entire month to be due Social Security benefits for that month. Even if you die at 11:59 PM on the last day of a month, you can't be paid any Social Security benefits for that month.

My expertise is limited to Social Security benefits, not Medicaid, so I can't answer your question about who's responsible for your mother's nursing home bill. I would suggest discussing this issue with the agency that that handled your mother's Medicaid and/or the administration office of the nursing home.

Best, Jerry