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I will put myself in the nursing home scenario but before I do let me say I am well aware of long term care insurance but some can not purchase it for any price due to pre-existing conditions. Let's assume I am one of those that can not purchase long term care insurance and haven't been able to for the last 10 years.
Home is paid for.
Car is relatively new and paid for.
Couple is certainly not rich. There's a total of between $80,000 and $100,000 in IRA's and savings accounts and that is it.
Husband and wife both receive social security which constitutes 75% of their total income.
Let's assume I develop severe memory problems and can no longer live at home and it is off to a nursing home where I will live at a cost of $70,000/year for the rest of my life.
You can qualify for med-cal if you can pass an assets test and income test. A home is not a countable asset but IRAs and investments are. {You'll really have to check the details on these...I'm generalizing.} Talk to an estate planning attorney.
Gift away your countable assets to kids - otherwise, you'll have to spend those down before you qualify for medi-cal.
Ohio may allow people to have a Qualified Income Trust which would take care of having too much monthly income to be covered by Medicaid. The money in the QIT pays for medical care and anything left over in the Trust is given to the State to reimburse for Medicaid spent on you.
Good to ask questions as you are. There are provisions that help preserve assets for the stay at home spouse. You should talk to an Elder attorney with Medicaid experience. There are some 5 year look back rules so planning now might be important. I think the rules can vary by state. There is some life insurance products than can be used for nursing home expenses and your state may have a plan. I would check your state web site for help for aging.
I will put myself in the nursing home scenario but before I do let me say I am well aware of long term care insurance but some can not purchase it for any price due to pre-existing conditions. Let's assume I am one of those that can not purchase long term care insurance and haven't been able to for the last 10 years.
Home is paid for.
Car is relatively new and paid for.
Couple is certainly not rich. There's a total of between $80,000 and $100,000 in IRA's and savings accounts and that is it.
Husband and wife both receive social security which constitutes 75% of their total income.
Let's assume I develop severe memory problems and can no longer live at home and it is off to a nursing home where I will live at a cost of $70,000/year for the rest of my life.
What happens to the spouse and assets?
Talk to an attorney... there are a few methods to preserve at least some of the assets using loans ...
In my state (WI) there is a program called Medicaid and the Impoverished Spouse. The spouse that is living in the community can keep their house, one car, personal belonging as well as $50,000 of the joint assets. (note, under certain circumstances a spouse can keep more than $50,000 in Wisconsin. Other states may allow the spouse to keep more assets). The spouse in the community will receive an "allowance" of a specific amount of money to allow them to pay rent/mortgage, buy food and pay other bills (about $2,000 to $2,500 a month). Everything else goes to pay for their spouse in the nursing home. In my/our situation all of my late husband's SS (minus $50 a month) went to the nursing home plus an extra $1,000 a month that he was receiving in disability payments. This was much less than the actual nursing home costs.
If my husband would have lived after his disability payments ended I would not have had to kick in the extra $1,000 a month because that would have placed my monthly income below my allotted amount a month. Also, the state may not take all of the SS if the spouse needed it to reach their allowance level.
Check with an elder care attorney in your state to see if you have a similar program. I did not have to spend 100% of our assets before he/we qualified (just to $50,000).
Good luck.
Last edited by germaine2626; 07-06-2019 at 02:58 PM..
I will put myself in the nursing home scenario but before I do let me say I am well aware of long term care insurance but some can not purchase it for any price due to pre-existing conditions. Let's assume I am one of those that can not purchase long term care insurance and haven't been able to for the last 10 years.
Home is paid for.
Car is relatively new and paid for.
Couple is certainly not rich. There's a total of between $80,000 and $100,000 in IRA's and savings accounts and that is it.
Husband and wife both receive social security which constitutes 75% of their total income.
Let's assume I develop severe memory problems and can no longer live at home and it is off to a nursing home where I will live at a cost of $70,000/year for the rest of my life.
What happens to the spouse and assets?
You might qualify for Medicaid. They pay for nursing home stays. You can have a home worth 505,000 dollars and still qualify. You do not have to sell your home even after you pass if your spouse or someone else in your family were living there and it was thier primary residence. Your spouse can stay in your home.
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