Attorney Thomas B. Burton discusses Medicaid, long term care insurance, and what you can do proactively to help plan your affairs in case you should ever need to utilize the Medicaid program to help pay for long term (nursing home) care.
Transcript of Video: What is Medicaid Planning?
Today's topic: What is Medicaid planning?
Medicaid is the federal government run
program that pays for seniors care if
they're unable to pay for it themselves
most specifically in this context we're
talking about nursing home care Medicaid
is the program that people with low
assets go on and receive state
assistance now it's not a fun topic but
the average cost of care a monthly cost
of a private pay nursing home in 2016
was $7,880 a month
now just one year
later in 2017 it's $8,457 per month
that can quickly eat away anyone's nest
egg so I recommend looking at long-term
care insurance if you haven't already
but for some people if they didn't buy
the policy when they were younger
long-term care insurance is already out
of the question if you look at that
eight thousand figure that's over a
hundred and one thousand dollars for a
year of private pay nursing home cost
for this reason many people whether
planned or unplanned are forced on to the
Medicaid program to help them pay for
their cost of care there are many things
we can do ahead of time with Medicaid
planning but just be aware that if you
wait till the very end
crisis planning there's options but
they're not the best options if you can
come to a lawyer when you're younger and
talk about your options he can lay out
what's the best scenario for you
Wisconsin has changed their Medicaid
rules so that it's harder to give
away assets and get on Medicaid quickly
you can't do that anymore in general
there's a five-year look-back period and
there's lot of other specifics but think
of Medicaid planning is something if you
want to do it you should do ahead of
time and only after talking to a
qualified lawyer who can explain the
pros and cons to you. Great question!
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