Aging Parents and Nursing Home Costs
Nursing home costs can be a source of concern if you are an adult with parents who are getting on in years. In fact, the majority of elders will someday need help with their activities of daily living, and it is very expensive. The median annual cost for a year in a nursing home nationally is over $90,000, and people often require multiple years of care.
In fact, around 10 percent of people in nursing homes wind up residing in the facilities for at least five years, so the overall expenses can be quite significant. Medicare does not pay for long-term care, so this is a lack of coverage that can have a profound impact.
Generally speaking, you do not have to worry about being held responsible for a parent’s nursing home expenses. Unless you enter into a contract agreeing to pay yourself, the agreement would be between your parent and the nursing home.
Financial Solutions
Even though you would probably not be held responsible for any costs incurred by your parents, your family may be concerned about all the resources your parents have been able to accumulate going to a nursing home. This is a logical concern, but there is a widely embraced solution.
The Medicaid program is another government program that exists to provide health care. It is not available to you if you have significant resources, because it is a need-based program. For an individual applicant, the limit on countable assets is just $2000, so if your parents have any resources to speak of, they would not be able to obtain eligibility.
To qualify for Medicaid, people often give assets to their loved ones. A parent could choose to give you his or her resources before applying for Medicaid.
Plus, a healthy spouse is entitled to certain rights. To explain by way of explanation, let’s say that your father is applying for Medicaid to pay for long-term care, but your mother still healthy enough to live independently. Your mother would be entitled to a Community Spouse Resource Allowance. This would equate to half of the shared assets that are considered to be countable.
The healthy spouse can keep half of the shared countable assets, but there is a limit. We practice law in the state of Texas. In our state in 2015, the maximum Community Spouse Resource Allowance is $119,220.
Medicaid Planning Report
We have just scratched the surface in this blog post. If you are an adult who is concerned about the future of your parents with regard to long-term care, you should take a moment to download our special report on the subject.
This report is free, and it will provide you with a great deal of valuable information. Simply click this link to obtain access to your copy: Dallas TX Medicaid Planning.
