We are about to experience – some say we’re already experiencing – the biggest workforce shift from full time work to retirement in United States history. If you’re a Baby Boomer, you are a part of this generational transition. If you can see retirement on the horizon, then I have a warning for you: there’s a train following close behind retirement that you absolutely must plan for: nursing home care. [Read More]
3 Myths About Medicaid for Nursing Home Care
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]
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]
The Great Medicaid Planning Hoax
According to www.longtermcare.gov, 28% of people aren’t planning for future nursing home care because long-term care costs are so high, and 45% of people simply don’t know how to plan. My own experience with both advisors and clients reflects this. As a long-term care planning attorney, this is concerning to me: there are many, many options for planning for future long-term care needs, but people don’t know they exist! This is a significant problem, but there’s a solution available if we know why the problem exists. [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]
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]
