Medicaid planning lawyers can provide invaluable help in preparing to ensure that essential care is covered. It is important to make plans for your own care so you will be able to protect your autonomy and assets as you get older. If you are a caregiver, it can also be very important to ensure you have made plans so the person who you are caring for is also able to take advantage of benefits. 
Nirenstein can provide helpful tips and advice for caregivers who want to ensure they help the person who they are caring for to become eligible for Medicaid benefits and to take full advantage of those benefits. If you are caring for a loved one, you should give us a call to find out about the assistance we can offer.
Tips for Caregivers
Being a caregiver is a difficult job, so it is important that you do everything you can to ensure you have the tools and support that you need to provide the best quality care for your loved one.
Depending upon the physical and mental condition of the person who you are caring for, you may need to ensure you have power of attorney or have been named as guardian or conservator. This will give you the power to manage assets and make important decisions on behalf of your loved one.
If the person who you are caring for is still able, you may also wish to explore helping your loved one to create a Medicaid plan. A Medicaid plan could make it possible for the person you’re caring for to get qualified for Medicaid while also protecting his or her money or property.
Medicaid benefits can cover important services that Medicare benefits do not cover. For example, Medicaid can pay for a home health aide to come to the house and help with basic routine activities of daily living.
This could make it possible for the person who you are caring for to stay at home and out of an institutional setting for a longer period of time since an outside aide can come in and provide support. Medicare does not pay for long-term care at home when only basic routine care is needed. Medicare only pays for skilled nursing care.
Helping the person you are caring for to make a Medicaid plan could also allow your loved one to protect assets in case moving to a nursing home eventually becomes necessary.
Even with the best caregiver, sometimes people become unable to continue to live alone. When and if this happens, a nursing home could cost a fortune and an entire life savings could be lost. Medicare won’t pay for routine nursing home care either, just as it won’t pay for long-term care at home. Medicaid will pay for care, but only if the patient is impoverished.
Making a Medicaid plan early on could allow your loved one to structure ownership of assets so wealth that he or she owns does not count when determining Medicaid eligibility. By making a Medicaid plan to protect wealth, you and your loved one who you are caring for will never need to choose between getting essential care at home or in a nursing home care and preserving assets and being able to leave a legacy.
Getting Help from Medicaid Planning Lawyers
Medicaid planning lawyers at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can help you to determine if you should help the person who you are caring for to make a Medicaid plan and can provide personalized assistance with the Medicaid planning process.
It is important to make a Medicaid plan well before care would actually become necessary because there is a five year lookback rule so if assets are transferred within five years of the time care is needed, a period of disqualification can be imposed equal to the value of transferred assets divided by average monthly cost of nursing home care in the area where the care recipient lives.
To find out more about how Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can assist you as a caregiver in making sure you have the necessary tools and your loved one has the necessary benefits, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 860-548-1000 or contact us online to get personalized one-on-one advice.
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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