Who Will Accept You For Care When You Need It?

Westchester Plaza, the largest assisted living facility in Texas that will accept Medicaid residents is closing their doors.  The problem is that Medicaid pays less than the cost to care for you.  If too many of the residents end up on Medicaid, they cannot afford to keep the doors open.

Many people here in Wisconsin have told me that they are not concerned about Long-Term Care because Medicaid will take care of them.  Others proudly say they gave away the family farm, home, assets so they can go on Medicaid.  If successfully done, you have forced yourself into a broken system that is failing.

Many assisted living facilities will not accept residents unless they can prove finances sufficient to pay for 2 or 3 years.  Others will not accept Medicaid at all and require you to sign a statement that you will leave if and when you run out of the ability to pay for your care.  At that point you are in the same boat as those who gave everything away years ago so the government can take care of them.  Oh, Medicaid will pay, but if it’s not enough, you will have to search for a place that will take you.

Will it be the nicest place in town, with a waiting list of people who can pay to get it?  Not likely.  It will probably be the other end of the spectrum.  Now you are stuck!

You could have used just the interest on the assets you gave away (and none of the principal) to fund an insurance policy that will pay for LTC.  Then, when care is needed, the insurance can pay for that care and at death you can leave those assets to whomever you wish.

You can have the care you want, and leave your wealth to those you leave behind, but you must buy insurance for the one event that makes many people go broke – needing LTC.

You probably bought car insurance and homeowners insurance and may never have had a claim on either, but according to U.S. HHS, 70% of us will need some LTC by the time we’ve reached age 65.  So, which do you think is more likely, a tornado or fire – or LTC?  Do you feel lucky today?

LTC insurance is not expensive, if chosen appropriately.  Remember that you have some income that will come in for the rest of your life that can pay part of the bill. You probably have some assets that can produce interest which can also help.  Now eliminate car and home expenses, travel expenses, golf expenses, expenses for toys, etc., and you may find you do not need anywhere near as much LTC insurance as you first assumed.  There are also significant price differences between companies based on your age and health.

Investigate with an expert in this field, someone who has access to many insurance options.  Be absolutely sure that whatever you choose has built in inflation so the policy benefits keep up with increasing costs over the years until you need care.  Without this feature you may end up at the gas station with $0.28 for a gallon of gasoline (which is what it cost when I was in high school).

Call TheLongTermCareGuy.com (or check us out online) to schedule a time to investigate this together.  Give yourself the option of having the kind of care you want.  You can keep your wealth and pass it along to the next generation.  Call us at (920) 884-3030