As you raise your own children, your parents are probably fully capable of handling all of their own activities, and they may even help you out with your children. People are well aware of the value of healthy lifestyle choices at this point in time, and a lot of Americans live very active lives, even when they are in their forties, fifties, and sometimes beyond.
However, at some point in time, many folks start to slow down. As a parent in your own right, you may find yourself standing among others like you in the sandwich generation as you consider the challenges that your parents may face in the future. You have two different generations who are looking toward you for answers to one extent or another.
Life tends to dish out challenges that you don’t necessarily expect until you start to see over a particular horizon. You naturally prioritize the life trajectory of your children, and just as they start to become self-supporting and independent in their own right, you may not have the ability to sit back and relax. Your parents may start to need assistance from you right around then.
Families Pulling Together
Depending on the exact circumstances, you and other members of your family may be ready, willing, and able to provide your parents with the help that they need, especially when they can still take care of most things on their own. There are some seniors who can live comfortably with this level of care for the entirety of their lives.
Optimism, positivity, and cooperative efforts can go a long way, but it is also important to address certain eventualities pragmatically if you want to help your parents preserve what they have earned.
Nursing Home Expenses
Even if the family is very proactive about helping out, there can come a time when a layperson simply does not have the ability to provide the level of care that is needed. Once a senior citizen reaches an advanced age, things can get serious. Incapacity can take hold, and there are various different underlying causes.
The biggest threat to senior citizens at the present time is Alzheimer’s disease. If you poke around the Alzheimer’s Association website, you will find a lot of useful, eye-opening information about the disease. Alzheimer’s afflicts around 45 percent of people who are at least 85, and the oldest segment of the population is growing more rapidly than any other.
A significant percentage of Alzheimer’s patients ultimately reside in nursing homes. The professionals in these facilities are trained to provide care for people with Alzheimer’s, and the facilities themselves are equipped with the appropriate modern technology.
About one in every 10 people who are residing in nursing homes will require the care for a minimum of five years, and the average length of stay is a little over two years. If you know your parents are going to qualify for Medicare, you may not be concerned about the expenses that could be incurred during a nursing home stay. Medicare must pay for long-term care, right?
A lot of people don’t think that it makes much sense, but in fact, Medicare does not pay for nursing home care, even though almost a fourth of people who are 85 years of age and older are residing in nursing homes. Around the country, the average annual cost for a room in a nursing home is over $90,000, and the averages are even higher in the state of New York.
When you combine all of these facts and statistics, you can clearly see why nursing home asset protection is important if you are advising your aging parents about the possibilities. Medicaid does pay for long-term care, and many people who were never financially needy aim toward eligibility when they gain an understanding of the situation.
If the correct steps are taken at the appropriate time, assets can be positioned wisely. Ultimately, your parents could keep their assets in the family as they prepare their financial profile in a way that would facilitate future Medicaid eligibility.
Schedule a Consultation
Nursing home asset protection is a very serious matter, because it can be heart wrenching to envision a hard-working family losing everything to exorbitant nursing home costs. If you have six figures in the bank when you are 85, you’ve probably done a pretty good job at handling your money, so it really isn’t fair to punish someone who has acted responsibly throughout his or her life.
Our firm can help if you would like to explore solutions. Call us at (631) 265-0599 or send us a message through our contact page to set up a nursing home asset protection consultation.
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