Elder Law

Skilled nursing facilities can be very expensive but there are ways to make your long-term care dollars stretch. There are three primary methods of paying for nursing homes:

1. Private-pay with one’s own dollars;
2. Using insurance that covers some or all of the cost of long-term care ; and
3. Need-Based Government Benefits, i.e. VA Benefits and Medicaid program.

Private-Pay For Care often means total indigence. The cost of nursing homes in Alabama range from about $8,500.00 per month or more. Many people spend all of their savings in nursing homes and then have nothing left. Not a very good option.

Long-Term Care Planning: works for some but most people considering nursing home care do not have long-term care insurance and either cannot qualify for the policies or cannot afford the premiums. Long-term care insurance is therefore often not an option. I help my clients pursue alternatives to nursing homes but if a nursing home or other extensive care is necessary, I help alleviate the otherwise overwhelming burden of placing a loved one in a facility. I accomplish my client’s goals by protecting their life savings against catastrophic costs.

Need Based Government Benefits. Veteran’s Benefits and the Medicaid program. Medicaid pays for skilled nursing facilities. Medicaid has certain requirements that must be met in order to qualify. One requirement is the income and resource requirement. In order to qualify for Medicaid, an individual applying for Institutionalized Care Program (ICP) Medicaid can have no more than $2,000 in resources, a couple applying for ICP Medicaid can have no more than $3,000.00 in resources. Medicaid also has an income cap that an individual must not exceed in order to be eligible for ICP Medicaid.

What Elder Law Attorneys Do: Among other services which enhance quality of life, Elder law Attorneys help people to ethically and legally convert countable savings to non-countable savings, so that Elder Law clients can keep their savings and still qualify for Medicaid. This is done not out of greed but out of necessity so that the client is not left indigent at the cost of long-term care.

Want more information? Call my office at 205-637-6115 and arrange a meeting or go online to www.tglennlaw.com to schedule an appointment.