Gainesville Elder Law Attorney
Paying for Nursing Home Care
One of the main reasons people hire an elder law attorney is to help pay for nursing home care. Many people are under the mistaken impression that Medicare is going to pay for long-term care expenses. Unfortunately, this is rarely ever the case. Medicare is not designed pay for long-term care. That’s the domain of Medicaid, and that means grappling with two difficult realities:
Florida Medicaid is hard to qualify for.
Florida Medicaid is repaid with your assets after you pass away.
But without some sort of help, long-term care is often far too expensive for those who need it. Florida’s Department of Children and Families estimates that the average cost of private long term care in Florida is $9,703 per month! Even if you had an extra $100,000 saved up just in case, less than a year paying for long term care could eat up everything that you own.
If you do nothing, the government waits until you are impoverished to step in to help. Our system waits until you lose everything you have worked for over the years before it helps you pay the care you need. It’s abhorrent and unconscionable. But it’s a reality that good, hardworking Americans deal with every day.
Thankfully, there is a way out of this predicament.
If you arrange your assets properly, you can have Medicaid pay for most of your care while your assets are still there to pay for other things you want. And all of it can be done legally, using tools provided by our lawmakers just for this purpose. This is what Medicaid planning is all about.
Nursing Home Medicaid Eligibility
To qualify for long-term care Medicaid benefits, you must pass both an asset and income test. If you have too many assets or too much income, you will not qualify. The limits changes every year. In 2021, the monthly income limit is $2,382 for an individual and the asset limit is $2,000 for an individual. Thankfully, some items are excluded from this calculation. And this means that often assets can be moved around to qualify for benefits. For example, you might engage in a spenddown plan or move assets into a special needs trust. But you have to be extremely careful when doing any sort of Medicaid planning. A misstep can result in a penalty, which can have disastrous consequences. This is why it is so important to get a professional involved.
Unfortunately, Medicaid planning and special needs trusts can be expensive. But if you look at the money saved by helping the disabled individual qualify, the planning is often worthwhile despite the initial cost. In some cases, large assets that normally would be used to repay Medicaid at death can instead be saved and kept within the family.
Estate Planning for Elders
Estate planning is important for everyone, but for elders estate planning is also an urgent matter. One of the chief reasons for this is incapacity planning. A good estate plan will include incapacity documents, such as a designation of preneed guardian, financial power of attorney and designation of health care surrogate. These documents are crucial if someone is incapacitated. Yet many families find that their incapacitated loved one never got around to arranging their affairs. This unfortunately this leaves the family in a difficult position, unable to fully take care of the elder in their life.
Of course, estate plans also involve arranging how your possessions will be passed down. This is often accomplished through the use of a last will and testament, although living trusts can also be used for this purpose. However, if you need Medicaid planning, a main goal of the estate planning will be to protect the assets from Medicaid recovery whenever possible. Otherwise, there may not be any assets left to pass on.
Elder Law in Gainesville, FL
Blakely Moore is an elder law lawyer who practices in the West Gainesville area off of Tower Road. He is a double Gator and a proud resident of Alachua County. If you live in or near the greater Gainesville area and and need Medicaid planning, schedule a free consultation today.