How to Help Elderly Parents With Finances.

How to Help Elderly Parents With Finances.

Helping your elderly parents with finances can be a tricky thing to do. It can be frustrating for you and can cause hurt or embarrassment for your parents. If you go about it with discretion and respect, though, you can streamline your parents’ finances and remove a lot of stress from your and their lives. By communicating properly, budgeting, and simplifying their affairs, you’ll be able to help your elderly parents with their finances. In the end, you and your parents might be come closer, and you'll both have a lot less to worry about.



Method 1 Budgeting.

1. Find out their sources of income. Sit down with your parents and ask them to list their sources of income. If they are unable to list their income, keep an eye on their mailbox and wait for checks to arrive. In addition, contact their bank to find out if they have recurring direct deposits into their accounts. Some sources of income might include.

Social security.

Pensions.

Retirement accounts that include stocks, CDs, and bonds.

Real estate holdings.

2. List their expenses. After you’ve determined your parents’ income, you’ll need to list their expenses. You can also do this by sitting down with them and asking them to list expenses. However, if they can’t remember, you’ll have to wait on bills to arrive in the mail or for businesses to call them asking for payment. Some common expenses include.

Phone.

Cable and internet.

Utilities like electricity, gas, and water.

3. Meet with professionals who manage their affairs. In addition to getting records from your parents and tracking them down yourself, you should also meet with any professionals who manage aspects of your parents’ affairs. This includes lawyers, accountants, management companies, insurance agents and brokers. They will likely have valuable information about your parents' finances you need.

Don't be intimidated by professionals you may have to meet with. In most cases, they'll be happy to help you and your parents.

4. Cut expenses, if needed. Once you’ve gathered a list of their income and expenses, you’ll have a very good idea of what they can afford and what they can’t afford. When you have this information, start trimming expenses. This way, your parents’ income and savings will last them a lot longer than it would otherwise. Some things to cut include:

Cable.

Very large life insurance policies.

Magazine and newspaper subscriptions.

Charitable donations.

Cars or homes that have been financed.

5. Raise money for your parents, if they need it. In the case that your parents don’t have the income to meet their expenses, you’ll have to raise money to help them. There are a variety of things you can do without reaching into your own savings account. Consider:

Selling their home or getting them a reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage is a loan that the borrower does not need to pay back until they sell the home.

Auctioning cars and other valuable possessions. Your parents might have valuable artwork, a car collection, or a piece of land somewhere that could be sold. That money may be just enough to meet their expenses.

Avoid taking loans or selling your parents' property before talking to them about it.

6. Find out if there are entitlements they are eligible for. In addition to identifying their current sources of income, you may be able to find entitlements or other sources of income for your elderly parents. To do this, check with your local, state/regional, or national governments. Don't worry, though, there are many resources available that will make this search easy.

For people in the United States, visit http://www.benefitscheckup.org to identify new sources of financial help for your parents.



Method 2 Organizing Their Affairs.

1. Get a power of attorney. A power of attorney will give you the legal right to act on your parents’ behalf in managing financial (and legal) aspects of their life. As a result, you’ll have the right to talk to your parents’ insurance companies, bank, pension administrators, and more. Without a power of attorney, you’ll have serious problems managing your parents’ finances.

2. Reduce the number of credit cards and checking accounts they have. Shut down all checking accounts and close all credit cards except for one or two. It will be very difficult for you to monitor their finances if they have many cards and accounts. Ultimately, it’ll be easier for you to follow one card and one checking account.

Verify that accounts and cards you intend to close do not have automatic payments or direct deposits attached to them.

3. Set up automated payments. Contact all the businesses that your parents have regular or recurring payments with. Provide them with a credit card number or a bank account number from which they can draft money that they are owed.

You may be able to do this through the business’s website.

4. Hire someone to manage their finances. If your parents’ finances are too complicated or their estate is too large for you to manage on your own, you may need to hire a third party to help you. In this event, a financial advisor, management company, or a law firm may be able to help you help your parents.

Determine if you or your parents have enough money/income to employ a professional financial manager.

5. Get their tax information. Ask your parents for their prior income tax returns. If they can’t find them, ask their accountant. With their tax information, you’ll be able to file the current year’s taxes, consolidate loans, and much more.

If you are unable to get tax information from your parents or their accountant, visit https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript to get transcripts of prior years taxes. Remember, though, you’ll need to have a power of attorney to do so.

6. Have them write or update their will. One aspect of your parents’ finances that they might neglect is their will. Their will is important as it will allow their estate to be settled relatively easily if they pass away. While this will probably be a tough conversation for both of you, you should ask them to write a will.

7. Document everything you do. Keep good records of everything you do for your parents. This includes keeping copies of checks you write, holding onto receipts for things you pay for, and taking notes of complicated financial issues. If you don’t document things well, you could find yourself in a legal battle with a sibling later on.



Method 3 Communicating Properly.

1. Ask if they want help. Before you take matters into your own hands and try to take control of your parents’ finances, you should ask them if they want help. Depending on their personality and position, they may respond negatively or affirmatively. Whatever their response, you'll at least open up communication and let your parents know that you are thinking of them.

If your parents are terminally ill or intellectually diminished, you may not need to ask them. Instead, talk to them and let them know you are going to try to organize their affairs.

2. Respect their wishes. Depending on your parents’ circumstances, you should respect their wishes as best as you can. If you disregard their wishes, you’ll probably alienate them and poison your relationship. By respecting their wishes, you’ll turn managing their finances into a positive experience.

3. Keep them involved. While you may be tempted to just take care of everything yourself, make sure that you keep your parents part of the discussion for a long as you can. This is important, as you don’t want them to ever be surprised about where they stand financially. In addition, if they stay active, they might fare better in terms of their health.

Schedule monthly meetings with your parents to talk about their finances. At the very least, take some time to let them know where they stand.



Tips.

Keep an eye out for signs of dementia; this is a signal to start taking great control of your parents' assets.

If you are working with your parents' finances, be sure and keep siblings informed in writing. This will help alleviate any tension about financial matters when your parents pass away, as that sibling or those siblings will be aware of what the state of your parents' finances are.

Warnings.

Educate your parents about scams. Request that they not mail any large payments to anyone for any reason without discussing it with you first.

February 25, 2020

how to help elderly parents with finances

How to Help Elderly Parents With Finances.

Helping your elderly parents with finances can be a tricky thing to do. It can be frustrating for you and can cause hurt or embarrassment for your parents. If you go about it with discretion and respect, though, you can streamline your parents’ finances and remove a lot of stress from your and their lives. By communicating properly, budgeting, and simplifying their affairs, you’ll be able to help your elderly parents with their finances. In the end, you and your parents might be come closer, and you'll both have a lot less to worry about.



Method 1 Budgeting.

1. Find out their sources of income. Sit down with your parents and ask them to list their sources of income. If they are unable to list their income, keep an eye on their mailbox and wait for checks to arrive. In addition, contact their bank to find out if they have recurring direct deposits into their accounts. Some sources of income might include.

Social security.

Pensions.

Retirement accounts that include stocks, CDs, and bonds.

Real estate holdings.

2. List their expenses. After you’ve determined your parents’ income, you’ll need to list their expenses. You can also do this by sitting down with them and asking them to list expenses. However, if they can’t remember, you’ll have to wait on bills to arrive in the mail or for businesses to call them asking for payment. Some common expenses include.

Phone.

Cable and internet.

Utilities like electricity, gas, and water.

3. Meet with professionals who manage their affairs. In addition to getting records from your parents and tracking them down yourself, you should also meet with any professionals who manage aspects of your parents’ affairs. This includes lawyers, accountants, management companies, insurance agents and brokers. They will likely have valuable information about your parents' finances you need.

Don't be intimidated by professionals you may have to meet with. In most cases, they'll be happy to help you and your parents.

4. Cut expenses, if needed. Once you’ve gathered a list of their income and expenses, you’ll have a very good idea of what they can afford and what they can’t afford. When you have this information, start trimming expenses. This way, your parents’ income and savings will last them a lot longer than it would otherwise. Some things to cut include:

Cable.

Very large life insurance policies.

Magazine and newspaper subscriptions.

Charitable donations.

Cars or homes that have been financed.

5. Raise money for your parents, if they need it. In the case that your parents don’t have the income to meet their expenses, you’ll have to raise money to help them. There are a variety of things you can do without reaching into your own savings account. Consider:

Selling their home or getting them a reverse mortgage. A reverse mortgage is a loan that the borrower does not need to pay back until they sell the home.

Auctioning cars and other valuable possessions. Your parents might have valuable artwork, a car collection, or a piece of land somewhere that could be sold. That money may be just enough to meet their expenses.

Avoid taking loans or selling your parents' property before talking to them about it.

6. Find out if there are entitlements they are eligible for. In addition to identifying their current sources of income, you may be able to find entitlements or other sources of income for your elderly parents. To do this, check with your local, state/regional, or national governments. Don't worry, though, there are many resources available that will make this search easy.

For people in the United States, visit http://www.benefitscheckup.org to identify new sources of financial help for your parents.



Method 2 Organizing Their Affairs.

1. Get a power of attorney. A power of attorney will give you the legal right to act on your parents’ behalf in managing financial (and legal) aspects of their life. As a result, you’ll have the right to talk to your parents’ insurance companies, bank, pension administrators, and more. Without a power of attorney, you’ll have serious problems managing your parents’ finances.

2. Reduce the number of credit cards and checking accounts they have. Shut down all checking accounts and close all credit cards except for one or two. It will be very difficult for you to monitor their finances if they have many cards and accounts. Ultimately, it’ll be easier for you to follow one card and one checking account.

Verify that accounts and cards you intend to close do not have automatic payments or direct deposits attached to them.

3. Set up automated payments. Contact all the businesses that your parents have regular or recurring payments with. Provide them with a credit card number or a bank account number from which they can draft money that they are owed.

You may be able to do this through the business’s website.

4. Hire someone to manage their finances. If your parents’ finances are too complicated or their estate is too large for you to manage on your own, you may need to hire a third party to help you. In this event, a financial advisor, management company, or a law firm may be able to help you help your parents.

Determine if you or your parents have enough money/income to employ a professional financial manager.

5. Get their tax information. Ask your parents for their prior income tax returns. If they can’t find them, ask their accountant. With their tax information, you’ll be able to file the current year’s taxes, consolidate loans, and much more.

If you are unable to get tax information from your parents or their accountant, visit https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript to get transcripts of prior years taxes. Remember, though, you’ll need to have a power of attorney to do so.

6. Have them write or update their will. One aspect of your parents’ finances that they might neglect is their will. Their will is important as it will allow their estate to be settled relatively easily if they pass away. While this will probably be a tough conversation for both of you, you should ask them to write a will.

7. Document everything you do. Keep good records of everything you do for your parents. This includes keeping copies of checks you write, holding onto receipts for things you pay for, and taking notes of complicated financial issues. If you don’t document things well, you could find yourself in a legal battle with a sibling later on.



Method 3 Communicating Properly.

1. Ask if they want help. Before you take matters into your own hands and try to take control of your parents’ finances, you should ask them if they want help. Depending on their personality and position, they may respond negatively or affirmatively. Whatever their response, you'll at least open up communication and let your parents know that you are thinking of them.

If your parents are terminally ill or intellectually diminished, you may not need to ask them. Instead, talk to them and let them know you are going to try to organize their affairs.

2. Respect their wishes. Depending on your parents’ circumstances, you should respect their wishes as best as you can. If you disregard their wishes, you’ll probably alienate them and poison your relationship. By respecting their wishes, you’ll turn managing their finances into a positive experience.

3. Keep them involved. While you may be tempted to just take care of everything yourself, make sure that you keep your parents part of the discussion for a long as you can. This is important, as you don’t want them to ever be surprised about where they stand financially. In addition, if they stay active, they might fare better in terms of their health.

Schedule monthly meetings with your parents to talk about their finances. At the very least, take some time to let them know where they stand.



Tips.

Keep an eye out for signs of dementia; this is a signal to start taking great control of your parents' assets.

If you are working with your parents' finances, be sure and keep siblings informed in writing. This will help alleviate any tension about financial matters when your parents pass away, as that sibling or those siblings will be aware of what the state of your parents' finances are.

Warnings.

Educate your parents about scams. Request that they not mail any large payments to anyone for any reason without discussing it with you first.

February 11, 2020

How to Finance Nursing Home Care

How to Finance Nursing Home Care.

As more and more Americans require nursing home care, their families are struggling to find ways to pay for, or at least reduce, the immense cost of care. In 2012, the average cost of a private room was over $90,000 a year and a semi-private room cost $81,000 a year. For most people, paying for a loved one’s nursing home care presents an almost insurmountable financial obstacle. However, there are ways to finance and reduce the cost of a nursing home so that a loved one can get the type of long-term care that they require.

Method 1 Reducing Costs and Using Personal Assets.

1. Consider in-home care. Long-term nursing home care costs between $6,000 and 9,000 a month and many people cannot afford this option. To save money, you may want to consider in-home care, which costs approximately $21 an hour for a care assistant. This option is not only less expensive but it allows your elderly or disabled family member to reside in his or her home for as long as possible.

2. Negotiate long-term care costs. If you are paying out-of-pocket for long-term nursing care, you should negotiate the overall cost with the nursing home. While some nursing homes may refuse to negotiate, others would prefer to take a lower private care rate because it still pays more than state-sponsored Medicaid programs.

3. Relocate your loved one. The cost of nursing home care varies greatly from state to state and even from locality to locality. If your loved one has family members who live in different states, you should determine which state has the lowest cost for nursing home care. Nursing home care in Texas, Utah and Alabama can cost less than half of nursing home care in states in the Northeast.

4. Qualify for a Reverse Mortgage. A reverse mortgage is a loan that a homeowner gets from a bank against the value of their home. The loan converts the home's equity into cash and the homeowner receives either a cash sum, regular payments, or a line of credit equal to the equity in the home. After the owner's death, the bank may foreclose on the home (get ownership without further liability to the home owner) or members of the estate may sell the home and pay off the loan.

In order to qualify for a reverse mortgage, each homeowner must be at least 62 years old and live in the home where the reverse mortgage was taken.

A reverse mortgage may be a good solution if you are in good health. You can use the proceeds from the reverse mortgage to pay for long-term care insurance or to make your home more accessible so that you can remain in the house as long as possible.

If you are in need of care but do not require nursing home care yet, you can use a reverse mortgage to pay for in-home caregiver services. This provides seniors with the ability to stay in their home for a fraction of the cost of a nursing home.

If you are a married couple and one of you need nursing home care, a reverse mortgage can pay for nursing home care and allow the healthy spouse to remain in the family home. If the spouse needing care dies, the surviving spouse can stay in the home so long as they can continue to pay for property taxes and insurance.

Method 2 Qualifying for Medicaid.

1. Determine whether you qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid is a state and federal government program that assists low-income individuals with a variety of medical care, including nursing home care. You can only qualify for Medicaid if you fall below the monthly income and asset limits set by your state.

You can determine whether you meet the eligibility requirements for your state at: https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/getting-medicaid-chip/

If you qualify for Medicaid, you can apply online at https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/getting-medicaid-chip/ or check the website for the address of your state Medicaid office and apply in person.

2. Qualify for Medicaid. If your assets are currently too high to qualify for Medicaid and you want to protect your personal assets from nursing home expenses, you can consider legally reducing your assets in order to qualify for Medicaid.

Before attempting to reduce or transfer your assets, you should speak with an elder law attorney. Medicaid has very strict rules about what assets can be transferred and what purchases are allowable to reduce your income. If you improperly reduce your assets, Medicaid can penalize you for months to years and prohibit your qualification for the program.

The National Association of Elder Law Attorneys has information about elder law specialists on its website at: https://www.naela.org. The American Bar Association also provides attorney referral information at: http://apps.americanbar.org/legalservices/findlegalhelp/home.cfm.

3. Reduce your assets. In order to qualify for Medicaid, you can reduce your assets by.

Paying off debt, such as a mortgage, student loans or credit cards.

Paying for in-home medical care, Paying for necessary home repairs, such as a new roof or furnace.

Transfer funds to your spouse for his or her benefit, Transfer funds or set up a trust for your blind or disabled child or for a disabled person under the age of 65.

4. Set up a Medicaid Asset Trust. With a Medicaid Asset Trust, you transfer all of your assets into a trust and give up control over those assets. Any funds placed in the trust do not count towards the Medicaid asset limits. However, if you transfer funds into the trust within 5 years of applying for Medicaid, you may be subject to Medicaid’s “lookback provision.” Under this provision, Medicaid may penalize any person that it determines conducted a non-exempt transfer under the Medicaid regulations. If you are penalized, you may not be able to qualify for Medicaid for months or even years.

Method 3 Using Insurance Options.

1. Purchase long-term health insurance. Unlike regular health insurance, long-term health insurance is designed to pay for long-term care, which may include nursing home care, in-home care or medical equipment. When evaluating long-term health insurance polices, you should carefully select a policy that covers nursing home care if you reasonably believe that you will not have someone to care for you at home should you fall ill and become unable to care for yourself.

It is best to acquire long-term health insurance when you are younger and in good health. As you get older, long-term health insurance becomes much more expensive and many seniors are either unable to afford or qualify for a policy.

2. Cash in your life insurance. Another way to pay for nursing home care is to cash in your whole life insurance policy. Certain policies allow policyholders to cash in their insurance policy for 50 to 75 percent of the face value of the policy.

Keep in mind that this is only an option for whole life policies, not term life policies where there is no cash value.

Depending on your individual life insurance policy, there are two ways that you can cash in your policy: accelerated benefit or life settlement.

If you qualify for an accelerated benefit, the insurance company will pay between 60 and 80 percent of the face value of the policy. Under certain policies, you may have to be suffering from a terminal illness in order to qualify for an accelerated benefit.

A life settlement is a policy payout that you negotiate with an outside company not the insurance company that issued the policy. These settlement companies look at the value of your policy, your age, and your health and pay you between 40 and 75 percent of the face value of the policy. Depending on the health and age of an individual, it may be possible to sell some term policies.

Before negotiating a life settlement, you should speak with an elder law attorney as there may be tax and Medicaid implications from receiving the proceeds of the policy through a settlement company.

3. Check Medicare benefits. While Medicare does not pay the cost of long-term nursing home care, you may qualify for a certain portion of the stay if you were transferred to a nursing home within several days of a hospital stay and you require skilled nursing or rehabilitative care. If you go to a Medicare-approved facility, your stay may be covered for up to 100 days.

Medicare will also pay for in-home care for a certain period as well. This coverage may help if you are trying to reduce assets or do not physically require full nursing-home care.

Tips.

Do not try to transfer or reduce assets before speaking with an experienced elder law attorney.

Be wary of advisers who are not attorneys. Throughout the country, there are people and companies who exploit the elderly and their caregivers by inducements of Medicaid qualification.

December 15, 2019

How to Finance Nursing Home Care

How to Finance Nursing Home Care.

As more and more Americans require nursing home care, their families are struggling to find ways to pay for, or at least reduce, the immense cost of care. In 2012, the average cost of a private room was over $90,000 a year and a semi-private room cost $81,000 a year. For most people, paying for a loved one’s nursing home care presents an almost insurmountable financial obstacle. However, there are ways to finance and reduce the cost of a nursing home so that a loved one can get the type of long-term care that they require.

Method 1 Reducing Costs and Using Personal Assets.

1. Consider in-home care. Long-term nursing home care costs between $6,000 and 9,000 a month and many people cannot afford this option. To save money, you may want to consider in-home care, which costs approximately $21 an hour for a care assistant. This option is not only less expensive but it allows your elderly or disabled family member to reside in his or her home for as long as possible.

2. Negotiate long-term care costs. If you are paying out-of-pocket for long-term nursing care, you should negotiate the overall cost with the nursing home. While some nursing homes may refuse to negotiate, others would prefer to take a lower private care rate because it still pays more than state-sponsored Medicaid programs.

3. Relocate your loved one. The cost of nursing home care varies greatly from state to state and even from locality to locality. If your loved one has family members who live in different states, you should determine which state has the lowest cost for nursing home care. Nursing home care in Texas, Utah and Alabama can cost less than half of nursing home care in states in the Northeast.

4. Qualify for a Reverse Mortgage. A reverse mortgage is a loan that a homeowner gets from a bank against the value of their home. The loan converts the home's equity into cash and the homeowner receives either a cash sum, regular payments, or a line of credit equal to the equity in the home. After the owner's death, the bank may foreclose on the home (get ownership without further liability to the home owner) or members of the estate may sell the home and pay off the loan.

In order to qualify for a reverse mortgage, each homeowner must be at least 62 years old and live in the home where the reverse mortgage was taken.

A reverse mortgage may be a good solution if you are in good health. You can use the proceeds from the reverse mortgage to pay for long-term care insurance or to make your home more accessible so that you can remain in the house as long as possible.

If you are in need of care but do not require nursing home care yet, you can use a reverse mortgage to pay for in-home caregiver services. This provides seniors with the ability to stay in their home for a fraction of the cost of a nursing home.

If you are a married couple and one of you need nursing home care, a reverse mortgage can pay for nursing home care and allow the healthy spouse to remain in the family home. If the spouse needing care dies, the surviving spouse can stay in the home so long as they can continue to pay for property taxes and insurance.

Method 2 Qualifying for Medicaid.

1. Determine whether you qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid is a state and federal government program that assists low-income individuals with a variety of medical care, including nursing home care. You can only qualify for Medicaid if you fall below the monthly income and asset limits set by your state.

You can determine whether you meet the eligibility requirements for your state at: https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/getting-medicaid-chip/

If you qualify for Medicaid, you can apply online at https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/getting-medicaid-chip/ or check the website for the address of your state Medicaid office and apply in person.

2. Qualify for Medicaid. If your assets are currently too high to qualify for Medicaid and you want to protect your personal assets from nursing home expenses, you can consider legally reducing your assets in order to qualify for Medicaid.

Before attempting to reduce or transfer your assets, you should speak with an elder law attorney. Medicaid has very strict rules about what assets can be transferred and what purchases are allowable to reduce your income. If you improperly reduce your assets, Medicaid can penalize you for months to years and prohibit your qualification for the program.

The National Association of Elder Law Attorneys has information about elder law specialists on its website at: https://www.naela.org. The American Bar Association also provides attorney referral information at: http://apps.americanbar.org/legalservices/findlegalhelp/home.cfm.

3. Reduce your assets. In order to qualify for Medicaid, you can reduce your assets by:

Paying off debt, such as a mortgage, student loans or credit cards.

Paying for in-home medical care.

Paying for necessary home repairs, such as a new roof or furnace.

Transfer funds to your spouse for his or her benefit.

Transfer funds or set up a trust for your blind or disabled child or for a disabled person under the age of 65.

4. Set up a Medicaid Asset Trust. With a Medicaid Asset Trust, you transfer all of your assets into a trust and give up control over those assets. Any funds placed in the trust do not count towards the Medicaid asset limits. However, if you transfer funds into the trust within 5 years of applying for Medicaid, you may be subject to Medicaid’s “lookback provision.” Under this provision, Medicaid may penalize any person that it determines conducted a non-exempt transfer under the Medicaid regulations. If you are penalized, you may not be able to qualify for Medicaid for months or even years.

Method 3 Using Insurance Options.

1. Purchase long-term health insurance. Unlike regular health insurance, long-term health insurance is designed to pay for long-term care, which may include nursing home care, in-home care or medical equipment. When evaluating long-term health insurance polices, you should carefully select a policy that covers nursing home care if you reasonably believe that you will not have someone to care for you at home should you fall ill and become unable to care for yourself.

It is best to acquire long-term health insurance when you are younger and in good health. As you get older, long-term health insurance becomes much more expensive and many seniors are either unable to afford or qualify for a policy.

2. Cash in your life insurance. Another way to pay for nursing home care is to cash in your whole life insurance policy. Certain policies allow policyholders to cash in their insurance policy for 50 to 75 percent of the face value of the policy.

Keep in mind that this is only an option for whole life policies, not term life policies where there is no cash value.

Depending on your individual life insurance policy, there are two ways that you can cash in your policy: accelerated benefit or life settlement.

If you qualify for an accelerated benefit, the insurance company will pay between 60 and 80 percent of the face value of the policy. Under certain policies, you may have to be suffering from a terminal illness in order to qualify for an accelerated benefit.

A life settlement is a policy payout that you negotiate with an outside company not the insurance company that issued the policy. These settlement companies look at the value of your policy, your age, and your health and pay you between 40 and 75 percent of the face value of the policy. Depending on the health and age of an individual, it may be possible to sell some term policies.

Before negotiating a life settlement, you should speak with an elder law attorney as there may be tax and Medicaid implications from receiving the proceeds of the policy through a settlement company.

3. Check Medicare benefits. While Medicare does not pay the cost of long-term nursing home care, you may qualify for a certain portion of the stay if you were transferred to a nursing home within several days of a hospital stay and you require skilled nursing or rehabilitative care. If you go to a Medicare-approved facility, your stay may be covered for up to 100 days.

Medicare will also pay for in-home care for a certain period as well. This coverage may help if you are trying to reduce assets or do not physically require full nursing-home care.

Question : Should I keep $200,000 available to get into a nicer nursing home before qualifying for Medicaid?
Answer : If you have that kind of money and that is something you are interested in doing, then yes, you can do it.

Tips.

Do not try to transfer or reduce assets before speaking with an experienced elder law attorney.

Be wary of advisers who are not attorneys. Throughout the country, there are people and companies who exploit the elderly and their caregivers by inducements of Medicaid qualification.

This article is not providing legal advice and should not be relied on as legal advice.

January 22, 2020

how to finance nursing home care

How to Finance Nursing Home Care.

As more and more Americans require nursing home care, their families are struggling to find ways to pay for, or at least reduce, the immense cost of care. In 2012, the average cost of a private room was over $90,000 a year and a semi-private room cost $81,000 a year. For most people, paying for a loved one’s nursing home care presents an almost insurmountable financial obstacle. However, there are ways to finance and reduce the cost of a nursing home so that a loved one can get the type of long-term care that they require.

Method 1 Reducing Costs and Using Personal Assets.

1. Consider in-home care. Long-term nursing home care costs between $6,000 and 9,000 a month and many people cannot afford this option. To save money, you may want to consider in-home care, which costs approximately $21 an hour for a care assistant. This option is not only less expensive but it allows your elderly or disabled family member to reside in his or her home for as long as possible.

2. Negotiate long-term care costs. If you are paying out-of-pocket for long-term nursing care, you should negotiate the overall cost with the nursing home. While some nursing homes may refuse to negotiate, others would prefer to take a lower private care rate because it still pays more than state-sponsored Medicaid programs.

3. Relocate your loved one. The cost of nursing home care varies greatly from state to state and even from locality to locality. If your loved one has family members who live in different states, you should determine which state has the lowest cost for nursing home care. Nursing home care in Texas, Utah and Alabama can cost less than half of nursing home care in states in the Northeast.

4. Qualify for a Reverse Mortgage. A reverse mortgage is a loan that a homeowner gets from a bank against the value of their home. The loan converts the home's equity into cash and the homeowner receives either a cash sum, regular payments, or a line of credit equal to the equity in the home. After the owner's death, the bank may foreclose on the home (get ownership without further liability to the home owner) or members of the estate may sell the home and pay off the loan.

In order to qualify for a reverse mortgage, each homeowner must be at least 62 years old and live in the home where the reverse mortgage was taken.

A reverse mortgage may be a good solution if you are in good health. You can use the proceeds from the reverse mortgage to pay for long-term care insurance or to make your home more accessible so that you can remain in the house as long as possible.

If you are in need of care but do not require nursing home care yet, you can use a reverse mortgage to pay for in-home caregiver services. This provides seniors with the ability to stay in their home for a fraction of the cost of a nursing home.

If you are a married couple and one of you need nursing home care, a reverse mortgage can pay for nursing home care and allow the healthy spouse to remain in the family home. If the spouse needing care dies, the surviving spouse can stay in the home so long as they can continue to pay for property taxes and insurance.

Method 2 Qualifying for Medicaid.

1. Determine whether you qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid is a state and federal government program that assists low-income individuals with a variety of medical care, including nursing home care. You can only qualify for Medicaid if you fall below the monthly income and asset limits set by your state.

You can determine whether you meet the eligibility requirements for your state at: https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/getting-medicaid-chip/

If you qualify for Medicaid, you can apply online at https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/getting-medicaid-chip/ or check the website for the address of your state Medicaid office and apply in person.

2. Qualify for Medicaid. If your assets are currently too high to qualify for Medicaid and you want to protect your personal assets from nursing home expenses, you can consider legally reducing your assets in order to qualify for Medicaid.

Before attempting to reduce or transfer your assets, you should speak with an elder law attorney. Medicaid has very strict rules about what assets can be transferred and what purchases are allowable to reduce your income. If you improperly reduce your assets, Medicaid can penalize you for months to years and prohibit your qualification for the program.

The National Association of Elder Law Attorneys has information about elder law specialists on its website at: https://www.naela.org. The American Bar Association also provides attorney referral information at: http://apps.americanbar.org/legalservices/findlegalhelp/home.cfm.

3. Reduce your assets. In order to qualify for Medicaid, you can reduce your assets by.

Paying off debt, such as a mortgage, student loans or credit cards.

Paying for in-home medical care, Paying for necessary home repairs, such as a new roof or furnace.

Transfer funds to your spouse for his or her benefit, Transfer funds or set up a trust for your blind or disabled child or for a disabled person under the age of 65.

4. Set up a Medicaid Asset Trust. With a Medicaid Asset Trust, you transfer all of your assets into a trust and give up control over those assets. Any funds placed in the trust do not count towards the Medicaid asset limits. However, if you transfer funds into the trust within 5 years of applying for Medicaid, you may be subject to Medicaid’s “lookback provision.” Under this provision, Medicaid may penalize any person that it determines conducted a non-exempt transfer under the Medicaid regulations. If you are penalized, you may not be able to qualify for Medicaid for months or even years.

Method 3 Using Insurance Options.

1. Purchase long-term health insurance. Unlike regular health insurance, long-term health insurance is designed to pay for long-term care, which may include nursing home care, in-home care or medical equipment. When evaluating long-term health insurance polices, you should carefully select a policy that covers nursing home care if you reasonably believe that you will not have someone to care for you at home should you fall ill and become unable to care for yourself.

It is best to acquire long-term health insurance when you are younger and in good health. As you get older, long-term health insurance becomes much more expensive and many seniors are either unable to afford or qualify for a policy.

2. Cash in your life insurance. Another way to pay for nursing home care is to cash in your whole life insurance policy. Certain policies allow policyholders to cash in their insurance policy for 50 to 75 percent of the face value of the policy.

Keep in mind that this is only an option for whole life policies, not term life policies where there is no cash value.

Depending on your individual life insurance policy, there are two ways that you can cash in your policy: accelerated benefit or life settlement.

If you qualify for an accelerated benefit, the insurance company will pay between 60 and 80 percent of the face value of the policy. Under certain policies, you may have to be suffering from a terminal illness in order to qualify for an accelerated benefit.

A life settlement is a policy payout that you negotiate with an outside company not the insurance company that issued the policy. These settlement companies look at the value of your policy, your age, and your health and pay you between 40 and 75 percent of the face value of the policy. Depending on the health and age of an individual, it may be possible to sell some term policies.

Before negotiating a life settlement, you should speak with an elder law attorney as there may be tax and Medicaid implications from receiving the proceeds of the policy through a settlement company.

3. Check Medicare benefits. While Medicare does not pay the cost of long-term nursing home care, you may qualify for a certain portion of the stay if you were transferred to a nursing home within several days of a hospital stay and you require skilled nursing or rehabilitative care. If you go to a Medicare-approved facility, your stay may be covered for up to 100 days.

Medicare will also pay for in-home care for a certain period as well. This coverage may help if you are trying to reduce assets or do not physically require full nursing-home care.

Tips.

Do not try to transfer or reduce assets before speaking with an experienced elder law attorney.

Be wary of advisers who are not attorneys. Throughout the country, there are people and companies who exploit the elderly and their caregivers by inducements of Medicaid qualification.

December 15, 2019

how to finance nursing home care

How to Finance Nursing Home Care.

As more and more Americans require nursing home care, their families are struggling to find ways to pay for, or at least reduce, the immense cost of care. In 2012, the average cost of a private room was over $90,000 a year and a semi-private room cost $81,000 a year. For most people, paying for a loved one’s nursing home care presents an almost insurmountable financial obstacle. However, there are ways to finance and reduce the cost of a nursing home so that a loved one can get the type of long-term care that they require.

Method 1 Reducing Costs and Using Personal Assets.

1. Consider in-home care. Long-term nursing home care costs between $6,000 and 9,000 a month and many people cannot afford this option. To save money, you may want to consider in-home care, which costs approximately $21 an hour for a care assistant. This option is not only less expensive but it allows your elderly or disabled family member to reside in his or her home for as long as possible.

2. Negotiate long-term care costs. If you are paying out-of-pocket for long-term nursing care, you should negotiate the overall cost with the nursing home. While some nursing homes may refuse to negotiate, others would prefer to take a lower private care rate because it still pays more than state-sponsored Medicaid programs.

3. Relocate your loved one. The cost of nursing home care varies greatly from state to state and even from locality to locality. If your loved one has family members who live in different states, you should determine which state has the lowest cost for nursing home care. Nursing home care in Texas, Utah and Alabama can cost less than half of nursing home care in states in the Northeast.

4. Qualify for a Reverse Mortgage. A reverse mortgage is a loan that a homeowner gets from a bank against the value of their home. The loan converts the home's equity into cash and the homeowner receives either a cash sum, regular payments, or a line of credit equal to the equity in the home. After the owner's death, the bank may foreclose on the home (get ownership without further liability to the home owner) or members of the estate may sell the home and pay off the loan.

In order to qualify for a reverse mortgage, each homeowner must be at least 62 years old and live in the home where the reverse mortgage was taken.

A reverse mortgage may be a good solution if you are in good health. You can use the proceeds from the reverse mortgage to pay for long-term care insurance or to make your home more accessible so that you can remain in the house as long as possible.

If you are in need of care but do not require nursing home care yet, you can use a reverse mortgage to pay for in-home caregiver services. This provides seniors with the ability to stay in their home for a fraction of the cost of a nursing home.

If you are a married couple and one of you need nursing home care, a reverse mortgage can pay for nursing home care and allow the healthy spouse to remain in the family home. If the spouse needing care dies, the surviving spouse can stay in the home so long as they can continue to pay for property taxes and insurance.

Method 2 Qualifying for Medicaid.

1. Determine whether you qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid is a state and federal government program that assists low-income individuals with a variety of medical care, including nursing home care. You can only qualify for Medicaid if you fall below the monthly income and asset limits set by your state.

You can determine whether you meet the eligibility requirements for your state at: https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/getting-medicaid-chip/

If you qualify for Medicaid, you can apply online at https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/getting-medicaid-chip/ or check the website for the address of your state Medicaid office and apply in person.

2. Qualify for Medicaid. If your assets are currently too high to qualify for Medicaid and you want to protect your personal assets from nursing home expenses, you can consider legally reducing your assets in order to qualify for Medicaid.

Before attempting to reduce or transfer your assets, you should speak with an elder law attorney. Medicaid has very strict rules about what assets can be transferred and what purchases are allowable to reduce your income. If you improperly reduce your assets, Medicaid can penalize you for months to years and prohibit your qualification for the program.

The National Association of Elder Law Attorneys has information about elder law specialists on its website at: https://www.naela.org. The American Bar Association also provides attorney referral information at: http://apps.americanbar.org/legalservices/findlegalhelp/home.cfm.

3. Reduce your assets. In order to qualify for Medicaid, you can reduce your assets by:

Paying off debt, such as a mortgage, student loans or credit cards.

Paying for in-home medical care.

Paying for necessary home repairs, such as a new roof or furnace.

Transfer funds to your spouse for his or her benefit.

Transfer funds or set up a trust for your blind or disabled child or for a disabled person under the age of 65.

4. Set up a Medicaid Asset Trust. With a Medicaid Asset Trust, you transfer all of your assets into a trust and give up control over those assets. Any funds placed in the trust do not count towards the Medicaid asset limits. However, if you transfer funds into the trust within 5 years of applying for Medicaid, you may be subject to Medicaid’s “lookback provision.” Under this provision, Medicaid may penalize any person that it determines conducted a non-exempt transfer under the Medicaid regulations. If you are penalized, you may not be able to qualify for Medicaid for months or even years.

Method 3 Using Insurance Options.

1. Purchase long-term health insurance. Unlike regular health insurance, long-term health insurance is designed to pay for long-term care, which may include nursing home care, in-home care or medical equipment. When evaluating long-term health insurance polices, you should carefully select a policy that covers nursing home care if you reasonably believe that you will not have someone to care for you at home should you fall ill and become unable to care for yourself.

It is best to acquire long-term health insurance when you are younger and in good health. As you get older, long-term health insurance becomes much more expensive and many seniors are either unable to afford or qualify for a policy.

2. Cash in your life insurance. Another way to pay for nursing home care is to cash in your whole life insurance policy. Certain policies allow policyholders to cash in their insurance policy for 50 to 75 percent of the face value of the policy.

Keep in mind that this is only an option for whole life policies, not term life policies where there is no cash value.

Depending on your individual life insurance policy, there are two ways that you can cash in your policy: accelerated benefit or life settlement.

If you qualify for an accelerated benefit, the insurance company will pay between 60 and 80 percent of the face value of the policy. Under certain policies, you may have to be suffering from a terminal illness in order to qualify for an accelerated benefit.

A life settlement is a policy payout that you negotiate with an outside company not the insurance company that issued the policy. These settlement companies look at the value of your policy, your age, and your health and pay you between 40 and 75 percent of the face value of the policy. Depending on the health and age of an individual, it may be possible to sell some term policies.

Before negotiating a life settlement, you should speak with an elder law attorney as there may be tax and Medicaid implications from receiving the proceeds of the policy through a settlement company.

3. Check Medicare benefits. While Medicare does not pay the cost of long-term nursing home care, you may qualify for a certain portion of the stay if you were transferred to a nursing home within several days of a hospital stay and you require skilled nursing or rehabilitative care. If you go to a Medicare-approved facility, your stay may be covered for up to 100 days.

Medicare will also pay for in-home care for a certain period as well. This coverage may help if you are trying to reduce assets or do not physically require full nursing-home care.

Question : Should I keep $200,000 available to get into a nicer nursing home before qualifying for Medicaid?
Answer : If you have that kind of money and that is something you are interested in doing, then yes, you can do it.

Tips.

Do not try to transfer or reduce assets before speaking with an experienced elder law attorney.

Be wary of advisers who are not attorneys. Throughout the country, there are people and companies who exploit the elderly and their caregivers by inducements of Medicaid qualification.

This article is not providing legal advice and should not be relied on as legal advice.

January 20, 2020