How to Prepare for the Possibility That You Will Need Long-Term Care
Although you probably hope to spend your final years in the comfort of your own home, the reality is that the longer you live, the better your odds are of needing long-term care. To help you plan for that reality, the Indianapolis Medicaid planning attorneys at Frank & Kraft explain how you can prepare for the possibility that you will need long-term care.
- Evaluate your health. Although most people cannot predict the need for long-term care (LTC), evaluating the state of your health now may be helpful when creating an LTC plan. This is particularly true if you have any chronic conditions and/or a family history of serious health conditions. For example, if you already have diabetes or high blood pressure, or there is a strong family history of heart disease, it is logical to predict that you have a higher likelihood of needing LTC down the road. Those same health conditions could cause your insurance premiums to increase dramatically as you age.
- Look into LTC options and costs. While around-the-clock care in a nursing home is certainly one type of LTC, it is not the only type. Other options may include assisted living, community care, home health aides, and even family caregivers. Planning for LTC requires you to have some idea of what that care will cost. Nationwide, the average cost of a year in LTC for 2021 was over $100,000.
- Make sure you understand your insurance options. As a senior, you will likely depend on Medicare to cover the majority of your health care costs. What you may not know is that Medicare will not cover your LTC expenses. Neither will most private health insurance policies. A separate LTC policy is an option; however, the premiums may be high and the coverage may be less than you anticipated.
- Have an honest conversation with family members. Understandably, most seniors would prefer to age in place and not have to be moved to an LTC facility. Likewise, when you are older you would probably prefer a family member to care for you instead of a nurse. Before you assume that your family members are willing to help though, sit down and have a very honest discussion. If you have four children who all live close by and each has room for you, the need to move to an LTC facility may be unlikely in your case. On the other hand, if three of those four children are scattered around the globe, and the fourth doesn’t appear to be willing/able to provide care, you may wish to focus more on planning for LTC.
- Incorporate Medicaid planning into your estate plan. The good news when it comes to long-term care planning is that Medicaid does cover LTC expenses. The bad news is that failing to plan ahead could put your assets at risk and/or result in your application for Medicaid being denied. Medicaid uses both income and asset limits when evaluating an application. If you own non-exempt assets valued above the limit, you may be forced to sell those assets (“spend-down”) and use the proceeds to pay your LTC costs. Only when those proceeds are gone will you qualify for Medicaid. Planning ahead, however, by incorporating Medicaid planning into your comprehensive estate plan can protect your hard-earned assets and set you up to be eligible for Medicaid if you need the benefits offered by the program in the future.
Contact Indianapolis Medicaid Planning Attorneys
For more information, please join us for an upcoming FREE seminar. If you have additional questions or concerns about planning for long-term care, contact the experienced Indianapolis Medicaid planning attorneys at Frank & Kraft by calling (317) 684-1100 to schedule an appointment.
Paul Kraft is Co-Founder and the senior Principal of Frank & Kraft, one of the leading law firms in Indiana in the area of estate planning as well as business and tax planning.
Mr. Kraft assists clients primarily in the areas of estate planning and administration, Medicaid planning, federal and state taxation, real estate and corporate law, bringing the added perspective of an accounting background to his work.
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