Florida Elder Law Blog - A blog by Elder Law Associates, South Florida's premier elder law attorneys, who handle elder law, medicaid planning, guardianships and much, much more.
A recent USA Today article states that there is an
increase in seniors living over the age of 90. According to author
Haya El Nasser “The number of people living to age 90 and beyond has
tripled in the past three decades to almost 2 million and is likely to
quadruple by 2050”.
Seniors who live longer generally have some sort of
disability or need help at some level of living. Sandy Markwood, CEO of
the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging, indicates that the
focus needs to be on being able to help these seniors live at home as
long as possible as nursing home cost could rise to average $72,000 a
year.
Long Term Care at any level, in the home, assisted living
or nursing home can add a tremendous cost to seniors and their
families.
Government Programs Only Pay For About 16% Of Long Term Care
Government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the
Veterans Administration will cover the cost of long-term care under
certain conditions. Medicare will cover rehabilitation from a hospital
stay or limited care at home if there is a skilled (medical) need. The
Veterans Administration will cover the cost of nursing home care
indefinitely if the veteran is at least 70% service-connected disabled.
The VA will also cover other forms of home-based or community-based
care if there is a medical need.
Medicaid will cover both medical and non-medical related
long-term care but in order to qualify for Medicaid a person has to
have less than $2,000 in assets and income that is insufficient to pay
the cost of care.
Funding Long Term Care with your Life Insurance Policy
Drawing cash from life insurance
or changing a life insurance policy should only be done after
reviewing with an expert advisor. Loss of the policy and death
benefit could prove to be a detriment. If, however you have
accumulated cash in a life insurance policy and no longer need the
coverage you may consider using the cash for long term care or
purchasing a LTC rider to your current policy.
New insurance products are being developed to cover both life insurance and long term care insurance. ElderLawAnswers reports:
“A new law makes the purchase of products that combine annuities or insurance
policies with long-term care insurance more attractive. These "hybrid"
products are gaining in popularity due to a law that went into effect
January 1, 2010, making distributions from life insurance and annuities
tax-free when used to pay for long-term care. The same law also allows
owners of annuities or life insurance policies to exchange their old
policies for long-term care insurance or hybrid policies without being
taxed.”
Combination sales which include life insurance, annuities
and traditional long-term care coverage are becoming popular with
insurance companies and may prove a method of financing long term
care. Investigate closely, however to find what exactly will be
covered. Some policies do not cover home care costs or complete costs
of nursing homes.
Long Term Care Insurance Funding for All Long Term Care Needs
The first long-term care policies were offered about 40
years ago. These were primarily nursing home-only policies designed to
take over when Medicare rehabilitation ran out. They were not the
comprehensive benefit policies we see today.
Long Term Care Insurance
policies today are greatly diversified in their coverage. Home care,
nursing home costs, adult day care, physical therapy, skilled and
non-skilled nursing care are some of the services covered. Policies
vary in price and what they cover. There is also a very restricted
qualification of physical and mental heath to get a policy. Purchasing
a policy at a younger age makes it easier to qualify and also provides
cheaper premiums. It is best to consult with a long term care insurance professional about the type of policy that fits your needs and budget.
Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension Benefit
Though not an insurance policy, the VA Pension Benefit
should be mentioned as a way to pay for long term care needs. A
veteran or spouse of a veteran who served during a period of war can
receive money, up to $2,019 a month, to pay for long term care medical
expenses, home health care, and assisted living cost. A qualified Veteran Consultant can help you determine if you qualify for this benefit.
Pre-Need Burial Insurance
One might ask what Pre-need burial insurance
has to do with long term care. The purpose of preneed life insurance
is to set aside funds for your funeral, before the need arises.
It is an insurance policy that covers the cost of the
predetermined expenses of a funeral, cremation or burial. It gives the
purchaser the opportunity to preplan the services and peace of mind in
having it paid for. This is usually an insurance policy that pays at
time of death for these expenses. There are many insurance companies
that offer these packages as well as funeral homes.
The saddest cases of long term care needs we hear are:
“Mother can no longer live alone and she has no money to go live in a care facility.”
“ Is there someone that can come help me take care of my wife? We
live on our Social Security and I can not pay what home care costs.”
“Father died last night and we have no money to bury him, what do we do?”
It is important to make the necessary arrangements to cover long
term care and end of life costs. There is no government program that
will cover all those needs. Before making any final legal decisions, please consult an experienced
South Florida Elder Law Attorney.
Labels: elder care, Florida Elder Care, florida elder law, Florida Elder Law Attorney, Florida Long Term Care Insurance, South Florida Elder Law Attorney
