Many people approach estate planning attorneys in order to determine how their assets will be divided among survivors after their death.
Unfortunately, a huge number of them skip a step and don’t take the high likelihood of long-term care into consideration. Elder law attorneys see this situation come up time and again, and it is important to educate clients on the options they have available.
Notice: crunched for time? We understand. Just call us at 703.691.1888 to reserve your spot ASAP, as our seats are filling up fast.
First of all, long-term care is a very likely scenario. People are now living longer than they ever have before. This can be a great thing, but the flip side is that it also means that the period of time in which we cannot fully care for ourselves may be longer, too. More and more people find that they truly need some form of long-term care. In some cases, this can be handled through an in-home healthcare worker rather than in a nursing home, but even that is expensive.
Nursing homes are a common solution when it comes to long-term care, and a good elder law attorney should help you plan for how to make this possibility happen. It’s common for people to think that the government will simply pay for their needs or that a nursing home isn’t any more expensive than renting an apartment. Both ideas are usually untrue. For example, here in Northern Virginia a nursing home can cost around $10,000-$12,000 per month!
So, how does one pay for long-term care? Elder care attorneys typically see four approaches:
1. Private Pay – Any care that is needed, from nursing homes to prescriptions drugs (including co-payments or full costs) are covered out of pocket. That can mean lifetime savings, IRA’s, stocks, and any other assets that you’ve worked for. Elder care services tend to be very expensive, and the costs associated with them are incredibly high. It’s not unusual for assisted-living placements to cost upwards of $8,000 a month. That means that “simple” basics that are required for day-to-day living come out to $96,000 a year.
2. Medicare – Medicare is a health insurance program administered through the government. Many people are surprised to learn that Medicare does not typically cover long-term care. So, even if you qualify for this program, it cannot be used to cover nursing home care or in-home healthcare professionals for more than about 100 days.
The Farr Law Firm is conducting a free seminar this weekend, Saturday February 18th. Simply click the button below to RSVP!
3. Medicaid – Medicaid is the only government benefit intended for long term care, and you must apply and qualify for the benefits. Many people are shocked when their elder law attorney explains that Medicaid may not actually be available to everyone, and if you have much by way of assets (even a modest home or a few thousand dollars in the bank), you may not be able to qualify right away. If you hope to become eligible for Medicaid sometime within the next several years, it’s a good idea to prepare in advance to protect your assets. If it’s too late for that, the Farr Law Firm can still help you protect your hard-earned assets using our proprietary Asset Protection methods and years of knowledge and experience so that you can qualify for Medicaid benefits sooner. The application in itself is also a time consuming and headache-inducing process requiring the documentation of financial minutiae the likes of which many people can’t even imagine. So many of our clients come to us at their wits’ end, having already tried to apply once on their own (or even multiple times) and been swiftly denied.
4. Long-Term Care Insurance – This type of insurance can help to cover or offset the costs associated with long-term care, such as an in-home healthcare worker or nursing home care. Policies can be somewhat confusing and expensive, so it’s highly recommended to work with an impartial elder law attorney when reviewing potential policies to ensure you understand them and are getting what you expect. Sadly, by the time that most people find that they need LTCI, it’s too late–in fact, only about 7% of Americans currently have long-term care insurance policies.
There are many issues to take into consideration when planning for your future, and long-term care is undoubtedly one of the most important, and that with the most far-reaching effects. Working with a Certified Elder Law Attorney means that you will understand the options that are available to you and how they apply according to state and federal law.
To learn more about the complexity of Medicaid law and why it’s been called “an aggravated assault on the English language, resistant to attempts to understand it”, visit this page on our website, then call us at 1-800-399-FARR to find out how we can help.
Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image: worradmu / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Print This Page