The cost of in-home attendants, assisted living facilities, or nursing homes can be overwhelming, but it does not have to be. Few people understand there are benefits under the state Medicaid program or through the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the complexities associated with eligibility.
The best way to minimize the financial impact associated with the need for care is to enact a comprehensive long-term care plan. Using the eligibility rules, and its exceptions, a long-term care plan can ensure appropriate care is received, while providing asset protection for a spouse or other loved one. Contacting a Virginia Beach long-term care planning lawyer now allows you to make advance arrangements before a medical crisis hits. A knowledgeable attorney could verify you prepare for your needs and desires through a detailed plan.
Long-Term Care Planning Can Protect Assets
As we age, our ability to handle our own care, and recover from complex medical issues, decreases. When we are not able to provide care ourselves, we must look to others for assistance. The cost for such care can be a deterrent. As a result, despite needing assistance with activities of daily living, people delay care until a crisis arises. Prior to discharge from a hospital, families must then make urgent important and expensive decisions.
Options do exist to help minimize the stress involved with such decisions. The options involve a complex makeup of family, income, and asset composition. In most scenarios, a plan can be developed to obtain the care an individual needs while utilizing public benefits to assist with the cost of such care.
Plans often involve a Medicaid of Veterans Benefit spenddown; however, due to the rules and regulations available, this does not mean spending the entirety of an individual’s assets on care. Various options exist that allow long-term care planning attorneys to minimize the financial impact on a family thus preventing the impoverishment of a spouse, or preserving assets for children and grandchildren. One popular option is to create an irrevocable trust to shield assets from Medicaid. Property that sits in certain trusts may no longer be an asset of the original holder, and thus, not an asset for Medicaid eligibility. While we can use this type of plan at the time of need, because of the Medicaid 5-year lookback period, and the Department of Veteran Affairs’ 3-year lookback period, maximum protection is afforded when these trusts are implemented years before care is needed. An attorney in Virginia Beach can explain how long-term care planning can work to protect assets when care is imminent or in the future.
Guiding People through the Long-Term Care Planning Process
Forming an effective long-term care plan is a complex endeavor that involves estate planning, an understanding of public benefits, financial planning, and tax analysis, in addition to other considerations. The first step is to accurately account for a person’s income and assets and determine whether they currently meet the standard for skilled nursing care, or need a lower level of care services to determine what options are available.
A long-term care planning attorney will then assess available sources of payment for care, and evaluate the following resources:
- Private funding
- Long-term care insurance
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Veterans Benefits
Contacting a lawyer in Virginia Beach now lets them provide support in developing a long-term care plan that will preserve and maximize assets and available benefits.
Speak with a Virginia Beach Long-Term Care Planning Attorney Now for Help
Having a plan that provides for long-term care and benefits is crucial when you want to minimize payment for long-term care services. Contact a Virginia Beach long term care planning lawyer now to explore your options.
