Hartford Medicaid lawyers help people to plan ahead to get nursing home care costs and other healthcare costs covered when paying the bills for health services becomes too much to afford. While many people assume Medicare will cover all of their health needs as a senior, this is simply not true. Medicare doesn’t typically cover the biggest healthcare cost most people face as a senior citizen: the cost of nursing home care. 
More than 70 percent of people who have turned 65 will end up requiring long-term care services during their lifetime. The average length of time that a person needs long-term care when they require it is three years. Those who get older become increasingly more likely to require long-term care. For example, according to the Wall Street Journal, anyone who is 65 or older has a 40 percent chance of needing nursing care and a 20 percent chance of needing care for at least five years.
Planning ahead in case you become one of the millions who needs long term care is vital. Not only do you want to make advanced plans so you can determine what kinds of long-term care would provide you with the best and most comfortable living environment, but you also need to make sure you’ve made plans to pay for care. With costs topping $100,000 annually for many nursing homes, making a decision on how to pay for care and taking steps to qualify for coverage is essential.
Options Available for Long-Term Care
There are many different approaches to getting long-term care services. A few options include:
- Skilled nursing facilities: These are caregiving environments where medical professionals can provide skilled services, like changing surgical bandages. Medicare will pay for a brief stay in a skilled nursing facility for patients who require specialized care, such as bandages being changed following a surgery.
- Nursing homes: Nursing homes tend to provide the most intensive care, compared with other long-term care options like assisted living. In a nursing home, patients can get help with all aspects of routine daily living such bathing and showering. When necessary, residents of nursing homes can also be carefully supervised, which is typically a concern for people with Alzheimer’s.
- Assisted living facilities: Assisted living facilities are a good choice for seniors who want to largely maintain independence while still having support services available and while accessing basic assistance when needed. Often, seniors will live in their own units but have community spaces where they come together for meals and social activities.
- Home-based healthcare: If a senior does not want to leave his home, home-based health care could be the answer. Home health aides can come to a senior’s home for designated periods of time to provide assistance with activities that seniors can no longer do alone. The more help a senior needs and the more often a home health aide must visit, the more costly the expenses associated with home-based healthcare.
Many people will begin with home healthcare and eventually move to a nursing home if they need more intensive treatment. However, this is not always the case and some people may stay in their homes with nursing aides forever or may skip over home care and go right to moving into a home or assisted living facility.
Which Long-Term Care Option is the Right Option for You?
Choosing the right long-term care option is a very personal decision that you are going to have to make. Many people assume that nursing homes are the best or only option, but you need to carefully consider all of the pros and cons of each choice.
One of the biggest concerns for many is the cost of a long-term care facility they are considering or the expense of bring in outside help. You don’t want to be forced into making a bad decision based on money, so you should talk with a lawyer about how to get care costs covered. Planning ahead to qualify for Medicaid while protecting assets could be important.
Getting Help from Hartford Medicaid Lawyers
Hartford Medicaid lawyers a Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can provide invaluable assistance with the Medicaid planning process. If you want to make plans in advance for your long-term care, we can help you to conduct research, discover any complaints about different facilities, and read admissions paperwork carefully to ensure you don’t choose the wrong care environment for your needs. We’ll also help you to get Medicaid to cover your care as soon as possible so you can protect your legacy.
To find out more about how our legal team can help with all of your long term care needs, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 860-548-1000 or contact us online to talk with an experienced member of our legal team and learn about how we can use the Medicaid process to help protect wealth.
Mr. Nirenstein is licensed to practice before the courts of the State of Connecticut and the United States District Court. He is a member of the Connecticut and Hartford County Bar Associations, and the Estate and Probate, Elder Law, Business Law and Real Estate Sections of the Connecticut Bar Association.
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