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So half of those who reach 65 will need long term care at some point, with about 9% more women than men.
What I've seen is wives caring for husbands as long as humanly possible, then having no one to care for them when the time comes.
I've certainly seen the reverse, but not nearly as often.
I've seen that mostly, too. Well, women live longer. We have 2-3 couples where the man is taking care of the wife. The one couple he's done it for years, but he's starting to fall and get some injuries. The other one he's doing well, in better shape, but he's only in his 80's, while other couple in 90's.
Everyone went to Medicaid. What happened to standing on your own two feet? Wasn't there recently a whole public discourse on expanding Medicaid?
I thought folks hated people who leach off of taxpayers.
I caution against doing this because the level of care may or may not be decent. Giving it to the kids is assuming that you will get dementia. How would the OP know his future for sure? Giving your money away to the kids when YOU need it? Atrocious. You could use it to get the proper nursing care, even if it is for only a few more years. Use your money to pay for your OWN care. You are your own responsibility. My husband and I thought about and purchased long tern nursing care when we were in our 50's. Yes, it is pricey. We wanted to make sure that we were taken care of to the best of our ability in our old age. No Medicaid unless I had no assets.
Many localities have people who enter private nursing homes as paying customers yet when they are there either a year or two they will accept medicaid assignment ..some states don’t even have Medicaid homes .all homes are private but the homes have a certain amount of Medicaid beds .
So Medicaid does not mean some ratty home or care .
In fact all states today have some sort of partnership plans available...that is where you usually take 3 years insurance and then when it runs out Medicaid will pay the bills .
Our state New York is one of two states that offer total asset partnership plans .
We got 3 years coverage and once the insurance is up Medicaid takes over the bills ...all assets are 100% protected , with no spend down , no look back ,no nothing .in fact there is no income restriction on the stay at home spouse .
The more common partnership plan is called dollar for a dollar ..that means of Medicaid spends 250k on care to pick a number than two hundred k is protected .
So not all Medicaid use is mooching off tax payers
I caution against doing this because the level of care may or may not be decent. Giving it to the kids is assuming that you will get dementia. How would the OP know his future for sure? Giving your money away to the kids when YOU need it? Atrocious. You could use it to get the proper nursing care, even if it is for only a few more years. Use your money to pay for your OWN care. You are your own responsibility. My husband and I thought about and purchased long tern nursing care when we were in our 50's. Yes, it is pricey. We wanted to make sure that we were taken care of to the best of our ability in our old age. No Medicaid unless I had no assets.
You can have a home worth 500K and still qualify for Medicaid. I found this when my mom needed more help
We were ready to sell her house etc.
The social worker at the department of aging set us straight cuz even the nursing home office didn’t know this.
Of course she had to turn over her monthly pensions so she wasn’t there completely free of charge. They took good care of her. Brought her back to life after being on hospice.
You can have a home worth 500K and still qualify for Medicaid. I found this when my mom needed more help
We were ready to sell her house etc.
The social worker at the department of aging set us straight cuz even the nursing home office didn’t know this.
Of course she had to turn over her monthly pensions so she wasn’t there completely free of charge. They took good care of her. Brought her back to life after being on hospice.
This is exactly why we are not taking LTCi either. I figure that they would take one leg of our retirement income for either of us, maybe more maybe less but we would not have to broker ourselves to get well. Thanks for the post.
Depending on the state , what the stay at home spouse gets left to live on can be impoverished. In these parts with homes 120-130k a year it will drain that money in the income generating pool in no time with an extended stay .
My dads almost 6 years today would be more than a million dollars in future dollars since the homes go up each year.
Ask any estate /elder law attorney who the biggest bulk of clients are and it is always the self insurers as the stay at nome spouse realizes this huge expense is open ended and can leave them with an impoverished life
If it comes time to go into a nursing home never to emerge, I think I would head for Oregon.
This is why we need euthanasia centers. When we become too much of a burden on family and society, we choose a dignified way out, like many cultures USED to have. The old "my body, my choice".
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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In Oregon, my previous state, the homestead is protected along with X income. The State puts a first (?) lien on the homestead which is removed when the last to die passes or when the homestead is sold. There is a 5 year look-back at initiation of the LTC partnership with the State.
I have no idea what it is in our new state of Washington. We bought LTCi before partnership plans were instituted. We have too much in RE and other assets, not to have LTCi. Yet not enough to where we can self pay for LTC. We cared for 4 family members.
A nursing home is not the only answer. There are board and care homes that serve 5-8 residents and have a on-site staff member at all times. Sometimes it's run by a couple with their own suite on-site and a few day-time helpers. Residents typically have a bedroom and an en suite bath, or a bath shared with one other resident. They have a common living, dining room and yard. 3 meals a day and snacks are provided, as well as medication assistance, assistance with toileting, dressing, etc. It's similar to a very hands on assisted living status, as opposed to a full-fledged, stay in bed most of the time, nursing home. Costs for this type of set-up are much cheaper than an actual assisted living facility with dozens or hundreds of residents. This family like atmosphere, with consistent staff and a small number of clients, is preferable to the typical institutional NH setting and the revolving door staff that changes every shift.
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