Medicaid attorneys can provide you with invaluable assistance in taking steps to get your healthcare costs covered as a senior. You need to ensure that you have a solid plan for affording healthcare because it can be very expensive to get the care you need as you age. In fact, Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) estimated that a senior couple with a Medigap policy who is in the 90th percentile for prescription drug use will need around $370,000 to afford the costs of healthcare during retirement.
Affording this costly care can be impossible for most seniors. And, if you need nursing home care, the costs can be even higher as a year of nursing care could cost more than $100,000 and typically would need to be paid for out-of-pocket unless you have made advanced plans to get covered.
Medicaid attorneys at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates can help you to make those advanced plans, and can provide assistance with understanding your options for affording medical care as a senior. You should give us a call today to find out about the assistance our compassionate and knowledgeable legal team can provide.
What Can Medicaid Attorneys Do to Help You Cover Costs as a Senior?
One of the big reasons why healthcare is so expensive for seniors is because Medicare is not as comprehensive as many people think that it is. Medicare also has premiums and co-insurance costs that seniors need to pay.
Paying for the costs of premiums and co-insurance can add up, and seniors may also need to pay out of pocket for a variety of things not paid for by Medicare ranging from hearing aides to routine foot care to some prescription drugs to long-term care at home.
It is the cost of long-term care and nursing home care that can really be prohibitively expensive for older seniors, and Medicare will provide no coverage for this type of care at all except in very limited circumstances when seniors need skilled nursing care to be provided at a skilled nursing facility.
Medicaid can help with all of these issues. For certain lower income seniors, Medicaid can help to cover Medicare premium and coinsurance costs. Medicaid can also pay for nursing home care and long-term care when you just need custodial care, or basic routine help with activities of daily living.
The problem is that Medicaid is a means-tested benefits program. If you have too many assets, you are not going to be able to qualify to get covered, so Medicaid won’t pay for nursing home care or any other medical expenditures. And many seniors have too much wealth to qualify for Medicaid because eligibility thresholds are low and seniors have worked their whole lives to amass a nest egg.
Medicaid attorneys help seniors to create a plan that structures the ownership of their wealth so they do not end up being disqualified from Medicaid coverage due to having assets. This allows seniors to preserve and protect the money and property they have worked for so those assets can serve as their legacy — while getting qualified for Medicaid so the care they need is paid for.
Getting Help from Medicaid Attorneys
Medicaid attorneys at Nirenstein, Horowitz & Associates will work with you to determine if you need to make a Medicaid plan to help you to afford the costs of care that you may require in your golden years. We can also provide comprehensive assistance on some of the steps you need to take to both protect your assets as you age and to prepare for the possibility that you will one day need to move to a nursing home.
To find out more about the ways in which our firm can help you, 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 help and support with all of your estate planning needs.
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