Nursing homes are incentivized by the state to perpetuate the hoax because the daily nursing home rate paid by the state is lower than the private pay rate. Lawyers who don’t know anything about the Medicaid regulations are telling people they have no options for planning for Medicaid eligibility. How do you overcome misinformation or a lack of information? You get educated. Here are three myths, rooted in the Medicaid Planning Hoax, that are all wet. [Read More]
Ask the Elder Law Lawyer: How Much Do I Need to Save for Retirement?
If you’re like 70% of people in the US who have a retirement plan, you still haven’t worked with a professional such as an elder law attorney in Northwest Iowa in order to determine how much money you really need to save. A recent study found that only about 30% of this group has actually sat down with a professional to come up with a realistic number. [Read More]
High Five: The Zen Guide to Planning for a Nursing Home Stay
If you’re dealing with a nursing home, it will quickly become clear that the options for paying the care bill are dizzying. Paying out of pocket is cost prohibitive. Long-term care insurance is probably not workable. For many, that leaves Medicaid, but those rules are spread over hundreds of pages of federal and state statutes, regulations, and policy manuals. What you need is an oasis from the stress, not the exponentially increasing stress that comes from trying to make sense of all those rules. Don’t despair. You can achieve calm in this whirlwind. Follow these five steps and you’ll soon find that the zen of nursing home planning is easily reached. [Read More]
High Five: 5 Things Your Nursing Home Social Worker Won’t Tell You
At an average of $180 per day in Iowa, paying $60,000 per year for a nursing home is not only likely, but it’s almost guaranteed. Staring that number in the face can make your stress level rise pretty quickly. So, you ask the nursing home social worker for information about applying for Medicaid. Unfortunately, nursing homes are being put in a position where they simply can’t talk to their patients about Medicaid eligibility planning. As a result, there are a few things the nursing home social worker may not tell you. [Read More]
How to Take Control of the High Cost of Nursing Home Care
Nursing homes are expensive. Whether you’re looking at long-term care insurance well in advance of needing care or you’re visiting with the nursing home admissions office to move your elderly mother into her room tomorrow, you know that the out-of-pocket costs for nursing home care can quickly reach five digits. Paying $60,000 per year is not only likely, but it’s almost guaranteed. In the face of numbers like this, it’s only natural to despair. But you don’t have to feel lost as you face down the looming nursing home crisis. [Read More]
Things to Consider When It Comes to Special Needs Planning in Iowa
Families who have members with special needs have a variety of concerns that most of the population don’t deal with on a regular basis. Whether you’re traveling to occupational therapy appointments, choosing the most effective medical devices, or contemplating whether to “mainstream” your special needs child, there are so many parts and pieces to keep in mind. For that very reason, you may not have even considered the need to meet with a special needs planning lawyer in Northwest Iowa. [Read More]
High Five: 5 Ways to Pay for Your Nursing Home Stay
Nursing home care is expensive, and it’s not going to get better any time soon. With the 2014 average cost of nursing home care reaching $169 per day in Iowa, 70% of people reaching age 65 this year can expect to pay about $123,370-$141,115 (or more!) for their end of life care. The question becomes, how do you pay for an expense that huge? [Read More]
Making Long-Term Care Insurance a Part of Your Estate Plan
one area that often gets overlooked in the estate planning process is long-term care insurance. People have a variety of reasons for overlooking long-term care insurance, and, while some or all of these justifications may be true, it may still make sense to at least discuss the risks with your Northwest Iowa trust and estates attorney. [Read More]
Elder Care Law in Northwest Iowa Offers Important Strategies for Dementia Patients
Along with the emotional turmoil on the patient and family members, dementia also takes quite a financial toll. Alzheimer’s and related illnesses are typically degenerative, progressing slowly over time, while requiring considerable medical and personal care. Elder care lawyers in Northwest Iowa have experience helping clients create plans which provide for both the medical and the quality-of-life aspects of these expenses. [Read More]
