Long Island Medicaid lawyers help seniors to afford the costs of home healthcare or nursing home care when they need these types of assistance. Long-term care is very expensive and most seniors are not able to afford the costs of care out-of-pocket. Unfortunately, Medicare typically pays nothing at all for long-term care, which means that if seniors do not make a plan to get their care costs covered, they could end up impoverishing themselves as they struggle to pay for care costs. 
A Long Island Medicaid lawyer at Eghrari Wealth Training Law Firm can provide help to seniors in making a plan to protect their assets by getting Medicaid to cover the costs of nursing home care, but this is not the option chosen by everyone. Some seniors opt to purchase long-term care insurance, although long-term care policies can be costly and can have many limitations on coverage that make them impractical.
Unfortunately, sometimes long-term care plans can also end. In fact, Newsday, LLC reported recently on a long-term health plan that covers thousands of seniors which is now ending. Seniors who have coverage and whose insurance policies end could experience significant challenges associated with making certain they have insurance that will pay for nursing home cared during the course of their lives.
A Long-Term Care Plan Covering the Elderly is Ending
According to Newsday, LLC, the North Shore LIJ Health Plan Inc. is going out of business. This nonprofit covers more than 6,000 people total, including 3,000 who live on Long Island. A total of 1,843 of the members of the plan are located in Nassau and another 1,171 are located in Suffolk.
It is a Medicaid managed long-term care plan and it helps seniors to afford costly home healthcare or costly nursing home care when they require services that are not covered by other insurance policies. The closure of the North Shore LIJ Health Plan means that all of the seniors who are currently covered by the plan will need to find new insurers to pay for their care.
North Shore has announced it needs to go out of business as a result of mounting losses. Coverage will continue as seniors are transitioned to new insurance plans, according to the senior vice president for managed care. There is no specific end date announced regarding exactly when coverage will terminate.
The announcement that the North Shore LIJ Health Plan was closing came a week after CareConnect indicated it would be shutting down and withdrawing from the state insurance market beginning in 2018. CareConnect was the insurance subsidiary for Northwell Health. It is based in East Hills and it covers 120,000 policyholders, including both individual policyholders and group accounts.
A corporate director of a Kings Park home care agency warned that it may be difficult for many seniors losing coverage to find new insurers. There are only 11 insurers providing long-term care plans on Long Island, two of which operate only in Nassau and several of which are not accepting new patients at all. This is a major concern for seniors who count on the insurer’s help to pay for coverage.
Getting Help from a Long Island Medicaid Lawyer
Medicaid can be one of the most reliable and effective sources of coverage for nursing home care. The problem is, if you have too many assets, qualifying for this means-tested benefit won’t be possible unless or until you have impoverished yourself paying for nursing home care. There is, however, a way to make a plan so your money and property do not count as disqualifying resources for Medicaid coverage. Eghrari Wealth Training Law Firm can help.
Our legal team will work with you to evaluate your specific circumstances so you can determine if you need to make a plan to afford long-term care. We can help you to explore all of your options, such as buying long-term care insurance and making a plan to get covered by Medicaid. Since getting Medicaid coverage is often the best solution, we can work with you to become eligible for benefits when you need them, without having to first spend all of your wealth on care.
To find out more about how our firm can help with your Medicaid planning process, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at (631) 265-0599 or contact us online to get your personalized Medicaid plan underway.
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