Tag: long term care insurance

A Path to Financial Freedom

On By Jane Fearn-Zimmer, Esq.In Assisted Living, Elder Care Planning, Elder Law & COVID-19, Long-term care, Long-Term Care InsuranceLeave a comment
What if there was a simple way to finance your future long-term care?

How can you age in place at home without spending a fortune? Does that sound too good to be true? It’s not. If you are still insurable, advance planning with long-term care insurance can keep your options open.

Most of us will need a skilled nursing level of care, some for months or years. Medicare, Medigap and other health insurance plans do not pay for custodial care. These policies will only pay for limited sub-acute and skilled care for limited periods. Disability insurance is intended to replace your earned income from work if you become disabled.

What if you have a medical crisis and need 24/7 care? At a cost of over $5,000 per month at the private pay rate, even staying at home with paid care can be very expensive. https://www.genworth.com/aging-and-you/finances/cost-of-care.html.

The benefits of long-term care insurance. Long-term care insurance can help protect your family’s financial and emotional freedom and can facilitate asset protection planning.

How to you get and pay for long-term care insurance? Policies are typically purchased while the insured has attained the age of forty and before approximately age 66. With age, the risk of uninsurability increases.

Some federal and state government employers offer long-term care insurance. It may also be available through some private employers. Long-term care insurance can also be purchased through an insurance agent. Private banks also can help high net worth individuals obtain specially priced policies. Some individuals use their qualified retirement assets to pay for long-term care insurance premiums. Many policies are tax-qualified, meaning that the benefits paid under the policy may not be subject to income taxes. Some policies have special Medicaid protections. These are called “partnership policies.”

It is very important to understand what the policy will cover and how the elimination period will work. Make sure any long-term care insurance you purchase is a policy you can still afford if the premiums increase. Talk to your elder care attorney if you think you may want to lower the benefit amount or increase the waiting period before benefits are payable under the policy.

Individuals who want to plan for themselves can benefit from long-term care insurance. Dick and Jane are married and in their mid-sixties. Dick is a government employee with a long-term care insurance policy through his work. The policy pays four years of benefits after a 90-day elimination period. Dick has a serious fall and fractures requiring surgery. He goes into the hospital for surgery and contracts COVID-19 in the hospital. By the time he is ready for discharge from the hospital, he is generally deconditioned and just wants to go home.

Jane is a petite woman. She tells the hospital discharge planner that she is afraid she might hurt herself if she tries to lift Dick himself. Dick needs constant hands-on assistance to perform activities like walking, dressing, bathing, toileting, and transferring from a bed to a chair. At first, the social worker was recommending placement in a nursing home or rehabilitation for Dick, due to concern that Jane can’t care for Dick safely in the home. But after learning that there is a long-term care insurance policy, the hospital discharges Dick to the home. Once Dick satisfies the policy’s 90-day elimination period, the benefits are triggered and the benefit payments can pay for Dick’s care, relieving the financial burden on Jane. Dick and Jane do not need to spend down their assets to qualify for Medicaid, due to the long-term care insurance benefit. If they have substantial additional assets and Dick and Jane wish to do so, they can work with an elder care attorney to protect additional assets that may be at risk after the policy term is exhausted.

 Adult children who want to plan for their parent or parents can benefit from long-term care insurance. Sarah was a single mother in her early 60’s who raised four very successful adult children while working two jobs and living frugally. She is active and healthy and still working at Dunkin Donuts every day. When she retires, based on current projections, her income will limited to Social Security of about $1,500 per month, which is not enough to pay for a nice assisted living facility, if she should need some care. Her now very successful adult children purchase a policy insuring their mother, so that she can now enjoy her golden years in a comfortable community setting if she should need assisted living care. With her income and several years of long-term care insurance, if Sarah were to need a skilled level of care, she could potentially age in place in assisted living, in a very comfortable setting, and then transition to Medicaid after the facility’s private pay period is satisfied.

More information about long-term care insurance in New Jersey is available online click here .

Back to School: Medicaid & 529 Plans

On By Jane Fearn-Zimmer, Esq.In 529 Plans, Elder Law, Medicaid, Medicaid & GiftsLeave a comment

Most people assume that they will not ever need skilled nursing care, but statistics show that that is not the case.  Medicare may be available to pay for a limited period of care under limited circumstances, but if an individual does not have long-term care insurance, care in a skilled nursing facility care can cost more than $12,000 per month in New Jersey. That is an awful lot of money to pay out-of-pocket, so more often than not, the client or his or her responsible caregiver turn to the Managed Long Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) Medicaid program as a source of funding, combined with the elderly resident’s income, for long-term care. 

MLTSS Medicaid is a joint federal/state means-tested welfare program. In New Jersey, for single individuals, the countable asset limit is $2,000. Countable assets are available resources, i.e., resources that are available to pay for your car.  In other words, if you have an asset that can be liquidated within 30 days, you can’t simply chose to do nothing to take the cash out of the assets and simply go on Medicaid, expecting Medicaid to pay for your care.  In New Jersey, this general rule applies to an individual’s (or a spouse’s) accessible retirement accounts as well as any educational savings accounts, including IRC 529 accounts, that can be converted to cash within a relatively short period of time. 

It can be a shock to family members to learn that the funds on deposit in a IRC 529 educational savings plan account may have to be returned to the contributor and spend down for the contributor’s long-term care or may be subject to a Medicaid penalty period, which is a period of time during which payment for long –term care is unavailable due to assets given away for less than fair market value during the Medicaid five year lookback period.  A seasoned elder lawyer can provide solutions. Depending on the circumstances, this might include purchasing a Medicaid friendly annuity to offset any Medicaid penalty period from the transfer of assets into a 529 plan or planning years in advance with an educational trust.

Questions? Let Jane know.