As a senior, or an individual approaching retirement, you may want to put certain plans in place to ensure that your golden age is exactly how it should be: awesome! Failure to put these plans in place may not only affect you, but your loved ones as well.
Among the plans you are required to make as a senior or an individual approaching retirement is long-term care. With a good long-term care plan in place, nothing should stop you from enjoying your golden age. But, there is a little problem. How do you pay for long-term care? Lucky for you, in this article, I have covered that.
What is Long-Term Care?
Seniors continue to have aspirations to well-being and respect irrespective of decline in physical and mental capacity. Long-term care systems allow seniors, who experience a drop in capacity, to receive the care and help of others in line with their basic rights, fundamental freedoms and human dignity.
These services can also help mitigate the ill use of acute health care services, help loved ones avoid horrible health care expenditures and free women, usually the primary caregivers, to have larger social responsibilities.
Long-term care is provided in diverse places by diverse caregivers. The services these individuals render is designed specifically to meet of the individual or senior in question. Most long-term care is provided at home by unpaid family members and friends. This care can also be provided in a facility like a nursing home or in the community, for instance, in an adult day care center.
What are the main ways to pay for long-term care?
- Apply for Medicaid
The rules for Medicaid care benefit (restricted to individuals with low incomes and assets) is different in each states, and you or your parents may not be eligible if a huge percentage of your assets were transferred into another person’s name within the past five years. Contact a financial adviser in your state for more information.
- Use your personal savings
Another effective way to pay for long-term care is by saving up adequate money. You can do this by setting aside a part of an investment plan to pay for the future.
- Take funds from an individual retirement account
The income gotten may make you eligible for a medical expense deduction. Taking money from an IRA will raise your taxable income. But, the tax deduction from using this money only for long-term care costs transforms one’s IRA into a tax-exempted health savings account.
- Consider veteran aid and attendance programs
This less common Veterans Administration offering offers up to $1,830 each month for any individual who has served 90 days in the military during a period of war, and up to $1,176 for surviving spouse.
- Activate a chronic illness rider
If you or your parents have a term life or permanent life insurance policy that comes with a chronic illness rider, you might be lucky. The triggers for the chronic illness riders are similar to the triggers required to make you eligible for long-term care insurance claim. You can be eligible if you can’t do two of six tasks of daily living without help or if you require help for cognitive impairment.
- Sell a home or acquire a reverse mortgage
Some people sell their parents’ home to pay for their long-term care. However, if one spouse is still residing in the home, a reverse mortgage may be the best option to assist in paying for the other’s long term care.
Need an Elder Law Attorney?
Do you intend on applying for Medicaid but don’t know how to go about it? Or do you wish to set up a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust? If yes, don’t hesitate to call our office. We boast of the best Medicaid attorneys who are experienced in matters regarding Medicaid.