Medi Cal

March 21, 2014 Medi-Cal No Comments

Overwhelmed With Medical Costs?

Most families are unprepared for the costs of aging and didn’t have the foresight to purchase Long Term Care insurance and are totally unprepared to handle all of the medical costs they will experience as a parent ages and needs additional medical care.

Along with the stress of possibly being a caregiver, is the additional stress of dealing with the Doctors and all of the associated costs they charge and possibly enormous hospital charges as well.

Funds from a Reverse loan can certainly help them, especially if they don’t currently have a mortgage on the property or if they do, it’s quite small.

Medi-Cal might be a solution for them if they live in California but they have to locate an Elder Law attorney who specializes in this particular area, who can help a family navigate the intricate process of applying for the insurance. I am going to provide a copy of an article by Richard M. Seff who provides this specialized service for families.

“Is a loved one in a nursing home? Are you contemplating financial assistance but afraid of potentially losing what you worked so hard to gain? Do you sometimes struggle, feel overwhelmed, frustrated and confused? There’s hope…

You May Be Able to Obtain Medi-Cal to Cover the Growing Costs of Caring for Aging Loved One.

We know the little-known strategies that may save you from needless heartaches, protect your family’s financial security and prevent the potential loss of any hard-earned assets…including your lifesavings.

The decision to move a family member or loved one into a nursing home is one of the toughest and most difficult decisions you can ever make. Over time, caring for an aging or disabled loved one can seriously deplete your energy, your time and, of course, your bank account. ( I see it all too often in my elder-law practice!)

If you don’t know your rights and the different steps you can take right now, that difficulty can expand drastically. For example…

•    Your nursing home bills can snowball out of control;
•    Your entire lifesavings can be drained if left unprotected;
•    Your income and standard of living can be seriously threatened

• And in some cases your family home and other hard-earned assets can be lost.”

Richard Seff

Estate Planning Lawyer

818-292-8160

I will share the remainder of his article in the next post.

November 6, 2008 Reverse Mortgages No Comments

Baby Boomers and LTC Insurance

From time to time, I will publish articles from other professionals that I feel have important information and value that should be shared with the public. The most recent news concerning Reverse Mortgages, is that they have exceeded last year’s fundings as more Seniors are beginning to use the money from the loan to pay for their monthly living expenses.

The wave of Baby Boomers coming up through the ranks of aging, will have a very large impact on the Reverse Mortgage industry, because many of them will not be prepared for retirement and will need additional funds to manage monthly expenses. More on that at a later time.

Be Prepared for long-term care

By Corinne Berenson
coberenson@roadrunner .com

Congratulations, baby boomers; up to 3 million of the 76 million of you will celebrate your 100th birthday.

Today’s centenarians have become the poster children for what scientists call the “longevity revolution,” which has added more than 30 years to life expectancy in the past 100 years. How well you live during those extra years will depend on how well you’ve planned for the ordinary cost of living longer and the extraordinary cost if you need long-term care.

We all know the value of buying life insurance — it’s there for a rainy day or to protect the people we love from the financial impact of a premature death. Yet, how well have you protected those same people in the event that you don’t die? How well have you protected your retirement income, and the emotional and logistical burden of caring for you in the event that you are no longer able to care for yourself due to physical limitations or some form of dementia?

Americans are in denial about the oncoming crises in the costs of care. A recent poll indicated that 59 percent of baby boomers are concerned about the growing cost of care, yet 72 percent have made no plans, maybe because we believe that Medicare or Medi-Cal will pay. Think again. Maybe Medi-Cal will, if you’ve become financially impoverished and want to stay at a Medi-Cal-funded nursing home. If you want to maintain your choices and stay out of a nursing home, your only options are to spend your own assets or buy long-term care insurance.