The greatest fears of seniors are one, running out of money, and two, ending up in a nursing home. Consequently, they lose their personal independence. Also, the loss of their hard earned savings. The average cost of nursing home care in Maryland is approximately $100,000 to $150,000 per year, dependent on your location, within the state. Unfortunately, most seniors pay for nursing home care utilizing their savings until it’s depleted. Subsequently, they qualify for Medicaid. Therefore, Medicaid will pay the cost of the nursing home, less all the senior’s income. With asset planning, whether in advance or in response to…
Caring for an aging loved one can be emotionally and financially difficult. Unfortunately, the ordeal is frequently exacerbated by healthcare problems ranging from issues with the physician to end-of-life or funeral decisions. Having recently dealt with the loss of her father, writer Jennifer Openshaw of The Wall Street Journal offers five tips on caring for elderly loved ones Fire Your Doctor. Well, you may not have to fire your doctor, but realize that you can – and maybe you should. Many people don’t realize they can just fire a doctor who is not providing the care and attention their…
This phase occurs during the final years of the accumulation phase and should begin when you reach 50 years old or are 15 years away from retiring, whichever happens first. Now is the time to get your plan in place, making sure your finances are lined up correctly for retirement day so nothing will be left to chance. If you work for a company with a benefits specialist, arrange an appointment to become informed about the various ways you can convert your employer retirement savings into a stream of income or an IRA. Give yourself time to learn the ropes…
Purchase a whole life insurance, with a rider to the policy which pays for long-term care ( home care or care in an assisted living or nursing home). If you do not utilize the long term care benefit, your beneficiary will receive the policy’s face amount. Example. You apply for a $500,000 whole-life insurance policy, with a rider for long-term care that will pay you 2% of the face amount each month if you need long-term care services. Therefore, you will receive up to $10,000 monthly ($500,000 x 2%) to pay for home-care, assisted living, or nursing home services. Consequently, if…
At Senior Life Care Planning our goal is to help your aging parents or loved ones stay safe and independent in their own home. As we age, we will need some kind of assistance to stay at home. However, the problem is, most of us do not have long term care insurance or the resources to pay for it. Millions of older adults have to impoverish themselves to get help with daily tasks like eating, dressing, or bathing. Or, they end up being forced out of their homes and into a nursing home too soon. Others rely on family caregivers…
To qualify for Medicaid, if you are single you can retain $2,500 in assets. For couples, the spouse can keep the home, one car, and about $109,000 in assets. The best protection from long-term care costs is long-term care insurance. LTCI does not just pay for the nursing home, but for home-care services, and may help pay some or all of an assisted living facility. If you cannot get long-term care insurance due to a medical decision, age or finances, the next best protection is an Irrevocable Medicaid Trust. However, this trust must be funded for at least five years…
Caring for elderly parents can become a family affair. Oftentimes family members question whether parents can “legally” pay for the help they receive from relatives. The short answer is yes, but you’ll need to make sure you follow some important guidelines. OurParents.com recently published an article for handy reference; here are their points on how an elder can pay a relative for care services at home. Gifts. Yes, parents can make gifts to a relative out of appreciation for care and assistance. But be careful. If your parent eventually needs Medicaid to help pay for long-term nursing care, any gifts…
According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal (The Latest Long-Term Care Snafu), however, some families are encountering claims-denials that can prevent or delay the collection of benefits. If you have purchased a long-term care insurance policy, there are steps you can take to help avoid this problem. Most importantly, be sure to re-read your policy’s fine print before hiring a caregiver or entering a facility. We have found, it may make sense for you to hire, Senior Life Care Planning, to help in preparing and advocating for your claims. Be particularly vigilant if the policy was purchased…
This appears to be a gray area within the VA. Although the law allows medical insurance premiums as unreimbursed medical expenses (UME), some adjudicators will deny LTC premiums. I would certainly submit them and if they are denied, send a notice of disagreement (if they are important to the outcome of the claim). I believe a good argument could be made that they are indeed “medical” insurance premiums, especially in light of the fact that assisted living is now considered to be equivalent to nursing home care for the purpose of pension plus A & A and LTC can be…
The suspicion should be nothing new, but Consumers Union and the LA Times recently released warnings about reverse mortgages, and it’s worthwhile to repeat them here. The biggest problem with reverse mortgages is that they can be made to appear too attractive to retired senior citizens, when in fact they can be quite risky. Seniors should be wary of reverse mortgages, rather than be misled by them. Reverse mortgages allow seniors to tap into their home equity for cash or a line of credit, often with the claim that the money needn’t be paid back until the borrower dies….
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