Protecting your Assets – Staying at Home
When most of us think of Long-Term Care, we think of nursing homes.
Long-term care is much more than nursing home care. It also includes home health, assisted living facilities and adult day care centers. It can come in the form of skilled care, which is the most intensive; intermediate care, similar to skilled care except that it is provided on a periodic basis; and custodial care, which involves assistance with normal activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing and eating.
Medicaid pays only after the person has “spent down” his or her assets. In other words, recipients must demonstrate poverty to qualify. Poverty levels vary by state. Furthermore, Medicaid only pays for care in assigned participating nursing homes.
Long Term Care Insurance is a tool you should consider. Many of us spend a lifetime accruing a retirement nest egg, yet we fail to insure against the possibility of long term care depleting or exhausting that nest egg.
We purchase insurance to take care of a variety of needs, when we acquire different things in life, we tend to insure those things.
When we purchase a car, we purchase auto insurance.
When we purchase a home, we purchase homeowners insurance.
When we want to protect our income, we purchase disability insurance.
When we want to protect our family, we purchase life insurance.
When we want to protect our retirement, we purchase long term care insurance, and annuities.
