needed rehabilitative care of any kind, and that he needed long-term respite care instead, which was not covered by Bill’s policy.
CIGNA advised Mike that Bill’s disability payments alone would
be insufficient to pay for any kind of permanent care, so all but
$3,500 of Bill’s assets would have to be liquidated in order to
qualify him for Medicaid.
What happened next has become a major point of contention for both of Bill’s children. Having sole authority over Bill’s
finances, and a need to spend Bill down to Mediciad eligibility as
soon as possible, Mike systematically sold off nearly everything
family while it ran. That collection is now gone. Adam does not
even know what Mike got for it.
For Corinna, the liquidation involved the sale of a small
vacation cottage her parents owned in upstate New York, not
far from Woodstock. When Bill and Karen divorced, the house
was split between them and Bill bought Karen’s half from
her. Before Karen could buy back the cottage, Mike sold it to
someone outside of the family. For Corinna, the cottage was a
storehouse of family memories, especially of her father. She
feels the sale was somehow connected to bad blood between
Karen and the rest of the Mantlo family that emerged during
the divorce. She will not say for certain, except to note that
she no longer is on speaking terms with her uncle because of
it. Neither is Adam.
Both consider this to be collateral damage from Bill’s loss of
his health insurance. “This tore our family apart, ” Corinna says.
continued on page 26
Mike received a
call at 10 pm from
a watch nurse
reporting that
Bill was sitting on
the floor, shaking
uncontrollably and
picking imaginary
insects from
his skin.
