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Protect Your Life Savings
Statistics show that nearly 50% of all persons over 65 will enter a nursing home at some time during their lifetime. The prospect of long-term care in a nursing home is one of the most difficult decisions facing elders and their families, creating stress and anxiety.
In Massachusetts, nursing home care averages between $80,000 to $100,000 per year! Are you prepared? Many believe that Medicare will pick up the burden of these costs. The truth is that Medicare and supplemental health insurance plans cover most of the medical expenses of an acute illness, however, they provide only minimal coverage of nursing home care. Unless long-term care insurance was previously purchased, the only program available to assist in financing nursing home care is Mediciad. Don't let a medical crisis turn into a financial disaster as well.
There are ways to safeguard your lifetime of savings with the same diligence as you and your loved ones used to save your money over the years and provide for you and your family. But, by the time families find this out, many falsely believe they were required to liquidate their assets and even sell their homes in order to pay nursing home costs.
The Medicaid application process is lengthy and cumbersome. Most people are unfamiliar with Medicaid regulations and the recent regulatory changes associated with them. As a result some nursing homes contract with private companies to prepare Medicaid applications for residents. These companies general represent the nursing home or hospital, not the Medicaid applicant or his/her family. If excess assets are discovered, the company will inform the nursing home and you will be expected to continue paying the facility with these assets. The applicant may lose opportunities to preserve their assets.
We are experts interpreting and implementing these regulations on our client's behalf. To qualify for Medicaid coverage of nursing home care, a single individual cannot own more than $2,000 in countable assets. By not taking the proper steps to protect your life savings, your home, jointly held property, gifted assets, retirement accounts, bank accounts securities or mutual funds, savings bonds and insurance policies will all be used to pay for nursing home care. All of your assets will be spent and you will be left with only $2000. Don't rely on well meaning, but misinformed people to tell you what you can and can't do. The Federal Government and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have established regulations affording you the right and opportunity to protect your assets - even if a loved one is already in a nursing home.
In terms of planning for disability most clients fall into one of two categories: advance planning and crisis management - if someone is in or about to go into a nursing home. Don't speculate on what could have been done. Learn exactly where you stand now and preserve your family's life savings. Contact the Law Office of Philip C. Amaru at 781-849-8485.
Copyright 2005 The Law Office of Philip C. Amaru