It’s hard to believe we are now in December! November – which passed by in a flurry of leaf raking, turkey and stuffing – was Long-Term Care Awareness Month. Although it is no longer November, this is a topic worth writing about.
Planning for long-term care is something everyone age 50 and over should have on their radar. It is just as important as making sure you have an updated estate plan and that your financial house is in order. Long-term care encompasses care provided in many different settings – for example, in your home, in an assisted living facility, or in a nursing home. It may surprise you to know that, according to the Commonwealth, a 65 year old man has a 33% chance of a nursing home stay during his lifetime. For a 65 year old woman, this probability increases to 52%. It is likely that these probabilities will increase in the future as we all live longer and are likely to need some type of care or assistance. Here is a U.S. News and World Report article on the topic.
For those of you who are lucky enough not to have come face to face with the reality of long-term care in your personal lives so far, I encourage you to educate yourself about this issue. Consult with your legal and financial advisors to learn about how you and your family would be impacted if you required long-term care and the steps you can take to plan for it. The biggest hurdle most people face in planning for long-term care is its cost. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Division of Insurance publishes a great consumer guide on Financing Long-Term Care, which can be found here.
There are endless ads on the radio and seminars offered in your local hotel ballroom on long-term care planning, usually with an emphasis on Medicaid planning. Medicaid planning refers to the planning that can be done to allow you to qualify for Medicaid benefits (also known as MassHealth benefits in Massachusetts) to pay for your nursing home care. Medicaid is a state and federal program that pays the long-term care costs for individuals who meet the eligibility criteria. You can read more about Medicaid here. There are many strategies that can be used to protect assets from having to be used to pay for long-term care costs. However, these strategies are not appropriate for everyone, and in many cases can do more harm than good.
Long-term care insurance is an important option which should be considered in long-term care planning. This insurance will provide an added resource to pay for care that will slow down the rate at which you will have to use your own income and assets. It could also give you time to do other planning if appropriate. The cost of long-term care insurance increases with age, making it expensive to postpone the decision to purchase if you decide that insurance is an appropriate component of your long-term care plan. The cost of long-term care insurance is also dependent on your health, adding an additional risk to postponing the decision to purchase.
The best way to approach long-term care planning is to seek the advice of an experienced elder law attorney who can assess your particular situation, present your options, and help you make the decision that’s best for you. It is important to note that the decision that’s best for you may not be the one that’s best for your children. Retaining control of your assets so that you can use them to pay for the care you need in a place you choose may not result in “protecting” assets for your children, but it could ensure you a better quality of life.
Published December 2014