Do you have long term care insurance? Have you thought about how you would pay for long term care?
Most people do not realize that health insurance and Medicare do NOT cover the cost of long term skilled care. Some people think that they will be able to qualify for assistance with the average $6,000.00 monthly expense of nursing home care and keep their family home, they do not realize that Medicaid estate recovery will strip the equity out of the home.
How do people pay for long term care in a skilled nursing facility? Either by planning ahead and creating a strategy that will allow them to pay for the care or allow them to qualify for needs based assistance or by spending almost everything they own and then qualifying for need based assistance.
Often, Financial Advisors tell me that their clients are so well-off it would not make sense to establish a plan that protects assets and gives their clients control where long term care expenses are concerned. I am sure that in many cases there are sufficient assets to pay for long-term care for a few years, but are there assets for 15 years? For 25? Illnesses such as Parkinson’s and ALS can be very costly: ten to fifteen thousand dollars a month, at-home care can be even more costly — 720 hours of care needed a month at $25 an hour is $18,000.00 a month!
What about the other spouse who does not need long term care? Are they prepared to live on only 126, 640.00 of the retirement money and other assets that they have worked so hard to save for the rest of their life.
Using Asset Protection Planning doesn’t mean planning to avoid paying for your own care; it means taking control of how your assets are used for your care.