This means that a person's income and assets must first be used to pay for care before they can apply for public assistance. Generally speaking, in the United States, it is illegal for public assistance to be used to pay for long-term care until all of the private remedies of the person who needs it have been exhausted. People who receive Medicaid benefits are also subject to asset recovery laws. If a person dies while receiving Medicaid benefits, the state can recover some of their remaining assets as reimbursement for the benefits they received. Therefore, while people receiving Medicaid may not have all their assets taken away when entering a nursing home, some states do require reimbursement of certain types of long-term care expenses for people who die with their remaining assets.
Nursing homes don't accept the assets of people who move into them. However, nursing care can be costly and paying for the costs may require you to spend your income, take advantage of your savings and even liquidate your assets. In most states, CMS consider that anything other than the recipient's primary residence and certain cash limits is subject to an initial expense. Available assets include IRAs, 401 (k) s, pension funds, bonds, vehicles, investment properties and second homes.
One question about estate planning that many older people ask when considering moving to an assisted living community is whether they should sell the properties they own. These modern policies are designed to cover the costs associated with in-home care, adult foster care, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes, allowing people to receive the help they need while remaining in their preferred environment. In the case of a married couple where one of the members of the couple enters an assisted living community and the other continues to live independently, the house is protected if it is the primary residence of the independent spouse. There are also cases where your home is exempt from recovery requests, for example, when your surviving spouse is still living there. However, the details will vary widely depending on your personal situation, your assets and the state in which you live.
A planning question that many seniors have when considering moving to a nursing home or assisted living community is whether they should sell the properties they own, including their primary residences, vacation homes, or investment properties. Consider the cost of a professional manager if you need one, or talk to trusted family members who live nearby. Let's say you're funding your assisted care through your 401 (k) plan, IRA, or other private retirement asset. In cases where one spouse is in a nursing home while the other is living at home, it is usually possible to protect almost all of the assets of the spouse who stays at home. However, in most cases, customers waiting to request assistance in a nursing home have already lost some of the options that would have been available if they had requested advice before.
We assist clients at every stage of the planning and treatment process for long-term care and other problems related to the final stage of life.
