Medicaid
What is wrong with Medicaid?
What is wrong with Medicaid is that it cannot afford to pay for LTC for very many of us!
Why is Medicaid a terrible thing if you need long-term care?
Long-term care used to be a simple thing. We got older and needed some help, our children took care of us. Remember Ozzie and Harriet? She had the time and the space to have parents move in. She was a homemaker in dress and heels and pearl necklace. How many of your children fit that description? I didn’t think so.
So then nursing homes were built, and nobody wanted to go to them. They were expensive and had lots of staff, but they were no fun. Still we did use them, and they did not cost too much, at first.
Now most long-term care is done in your own home or the assisted living type facilities that look like hotels with pools and hot tubs and happy hour. They serve nice meals, have book club, walking club, water aerobics, movies and a lot of socialization – pretty nice actually.
Home care agencies have sprung up all over, sending people to your home for bathing and dressing and medication management along with cooking, cleaning, shopping, and taking you to appointments.
Then inflation happened and care is not cheap anymore. Nursing homes (only about 6-7% of all care) run over $10,000 a month. Assisted living is much less, starting around $3500 a month if you need no care, averaging $5000 to $6000 a month, unless you have dementia (half of all care) and then it goes to $7500 to $8500 a month.
40 years ago we retired at 65 with our home paid for, some savings, one car, a pension and Social Security. Today, many retirees carry a mortgage, credit card debt, 2 cars that cost $30,000 each, lots of toys and no gold watch. An extra bill of $60,000 to $100,000 every year is too much for our budget, and our children are all working and not able to take us in.
Medicaid is a welfare program that will pay for long-term care (LTC) if we cannot afford it ourselves. Single people must spend everything down to $2000 before it kicks in. A married spouse at home can keep a house, car and some savings, but after the last death it all goes back to the state to repay Medicaid.
This is NOT the problem, however. So, what is wrong with Medicaid? Just like there are less than 3 taxpayers paying taxes for every Social Security recipient, Medicaid cannot afford to pay for LTC for very many of us. So they pay far less than what it costs to keep you in a facility or at home.
Try getting in to an assisted living facility now and you will be asked to prove that you can pay for at least 2 years before you need to turn to Medicaid. Many won’t even accept Medicaid at all. You simply cannot lose money on every customer and make it up with volume! (Cue the wailing and gnashing of teeth)
How long can you afford to pay an extra monthly bill that runs thousands of dollars a month when you are retired? Does this keep you up at night? Many people tell me it does. Have you ever investigated the insurance that pays for this care?
You insure your house, your cars, your toys, possibly even death (which is not that expensive). Now that you know what is wrong with Medicaid, why not get insurance for the biggest bill you face in retirement? The one that bankrupts most people who try and pay it out of pocket?
At TheLongTermCareGuy.com we have been doing nothing but helping folks deal with LTC bills for over 24 years. Helping them investigate APPROPRIATE insurance for LTC, or alternative solutions to protect a bit of your savings for family if Medicaid is inevitable.
I bought my LTC insurance years ago and I can now pay for whatever LTC I might need. Every facility in the north east Wisconsin area wants me – and I’m not that good looking! I won’t need to burden my family, I won’t need to search for a place to take me. And if I do not like where I am, I am free to go elsewhere because I can easily pay for the care without going broke. I can sleep at night, can you?
Hope this helped you see what is wrong with Medicaid. Please let contact me any questions so that I can help you and your family!
Call Romeo Raabe, TheLongTermCareGuy.com at (920) 884-3030 and investigate what you can do about this, and avoid searching for a care provider on Medicaid’s woefully inadequate reimbursements.
Who Will Accept You For Care When You Need It?
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
You’re Probably Going to Need Medicaid
You’re Probably Going to Need Medicaid
The Opinion Pages | The New York Times
OP-ED CONTRIBUTORS
By DAVID GRABOWSKI, JONATHAN GRUBER and VINCENT MOR
Imagine your mother needs to move into a nursing home. It’s going to cost her almost $100,000 a year. Very few people have private insurance to cover this. Your mother will most likely run out her savings until she qualifies for Medicaid.
This is not a rare event. Roughly one in three people now turning 65 will require nursing home care at some point during his or her life. Over three-quarters of long-stay nursing home residents will eventually be covered by Medicaid. Many American voters think Medicaid is only for low-income adults and their children — for people who aren’t “like them.” But Medicaid is not “somebody else’s” insurance. It is insurance for all of our mothers and fathers and, eventually, for ourselves.
The American Health Care Act that passed the House and is now being debated by the Senate would reduce spending on Medicaid by over $800 billion, the largest single reduction in a social insurance program in our nation’s history. The budget released by President Trump last month would up the ante by slashing another $600 billion over 10 years from the program. Whether the Senate adopts cuts of quite this magnitude or not, any legislation that passes the Republican Congress is likely to include the largest cuts to the Medicaid program since its inception.
Much focus has rightly been placed on the enormous damage this would do to lower-income families and youth. But what has been largely missing from public discussion is the radical implications that such cuts would have for older and disabled Americans.
Medicaid is our nation’s largest safety net for low-income people, accounting for one-sixth of all health care spending in the United States. But few people seem to know that nearly two-thirds of that spending is focused on older and disabled adults — primarily through spending on long-term care services such as nursing homes.
Indeed, Medicaid pays nearly half of nursing home costs for those who need assistance because of medical conditions like Alzheimer’s or stroke. In some states, overall spending on older and disabled adults amounts to as much as three-quarters of Medicaid spending. As a result, there is no way that the program can shrink by 25 percent (as under the A.H.C.A.) or almost 50 percent (as under the Trump budget), without hurting these people.
A large body of research, some of it by us, has shown that cuts to nursing home reimbursement can have devastating effects on vulnerable patients. Many nursing homes would stop admitting Medicaid recipients and those who don’t have enough assets to ensure that they won’t eventually end up on Medicaid. Older and disabled Medicaid beneficiaries can’t pay out of pocket for services and they do not typically have family members able to care for them. The nursing home is a last resort. Where will they go instead?
Those who are admitted to a nursing home may not fare much better. Lowering Medicaid reimbursement rates lead to reductions in staffing, particularly of nurses. Research by one of us shows that a cut in the reimbursement rate of around 10 percent leads to a functional decline of nursing home residents (that is, a decline in their ability to walk or use the bathroom by themselves) of almost 10 percent. It also raises the odds that they will be in persistent pain by 5 percent, and the odds of getting a bedsore by 2 percent.
Finally, these cuts would just shift costs to the rest of the government. Lower-quality nursing home care leads to more hospitalizations, and for Americans over 65, these are paid for by another government program, Medicare. One-quarter of nursing home residents are hospitalized each year, and the daily cost of caring for them more than quadruples when they move to the hospital. Research shows that a reduction in nursing home reimbursements of around 10 percent leads to a 5 percent rise in the odds that residents will be hospitalized. So care for seniors suffers, and the taxpayer pays.
Mr. Trump and the Republicans would lower spending on the frailest and most vulnerable people in our health care system. They would like most Americans to believe that these cuts will not affect them, only their “undeserving” neighbors. But that hides the truth that draconian cuts to Medicaid affect all of our families. They are a direct attack on our elderly, our disabled and our dignity.
David Grabowski is a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School. Jonathan Gruber is a professor of economics at M.I.T. Vincent Mor is a professor of health care policy at Brown.
Comment from Romeo Raabe TheLongTermCareGuy.com:
There are too many of us baby boomers, and we did not have enough children to tax and pay for this, or staff the facilities we will need. Those with money always fare better. I have long Term Care insurance to pay for my care, what is your plan?
Call us @ 1-800-219-9203 to investigate, before you can no longer qualify to purchase this insurance.
Please CONTACT US today so we can help protect YOUR money!
You’re Probably Going to Need Medicaid!
Medicare & Medicaid, What’s The Difference?
Medicare & Medicaid, What’s The Difference?
I was asked this question at a seminar recently, and thought a good definition of each might be of value. Medicare is health insurance at age 65. To qualify you must have paid income and Social Security taxes for at least 40 quarters (10 years). Medicare pays for doctor and hospital care, fixing us when we are “broken”.
Medicare is not free. Most of us qualify for part A which covers hospitals and certain other medical costs. There is a monthly premium for part B which covers doctor bills. This bill is typically deducted from your Social Security check. Most people also purchase a private “supplement” to cover deductibles, or a part C called Medicare Advantage which is similar but requires copays at point of care.
Medicaid is a welfare program. You qualify by being out of money as defined in the program. Most Medicaid dollars go towards long-term care (LTC) costs for elderly who exhausted all their assets due to the high costs of this care.
Medicaid, which is the largest payer of LTC costs in the US, treats single people differently than married couples. A single person who moves to a LTC facility for care in later life does not need a home, auto, etc. Thus the single person must spend all assets and savings down to less than $2000 to qualify.
$45/month can be retained for spending money (socks, underwear, toothpaste) and most life insurance must be cashed in as well. For those aware of the rules, an irrevocable burial trust of up to $15,000 for burial expenses can be established so children are not burdened with that bill.
Married couples are allowed to retain use of the home for the at-home spouse, along with one vehicle, some savings and income. At the at-home spouse’s death all of these items are recovered against by Medicaid to pay themselves back. Typically nothing is left for heirs.
Medicaid also “looks back” in your financial records at time of application to be sure money or other assets have not been given away. Any gifts in the past 60 months will be totaled up and a determination made of how long such funds could have paid for your care. That is how long you will not receive Medicaid once you are down to $2000. Whoever received those gifts may need to return them.
Medicaid pays LTC service providers much less than the going rate for care. Thus many providers will not accept Medicaid or prior to allowing your entry may require that you prove the ability to pay out of pocket for at least 2 or 3 years before applying for Medicaid. The more desirable and expensive the facility, the less likely it will accept Medicaid.
So, how does one avoid becoming impoverished and needing Medicaid? The answer is simple, have enough income and savings to pay for such care, or purchase insurance that pays LTC costs for you. You’ve probably had car insurance for most of your life, why not insure for LTC which can be far more expensive than an auto accident?
Many things need to be taken into consideration to choose LTC insurance benefits appropriately. This is where expert advice can save a lot of money.
Investigate with an expert, call www.TheLongTermCareGuy.com at (920) 884-3030 or (800) 219-9203 to schedule a time to discuss your situation. We also offer the irrevocable burial trusts to protect some funds for family.
Coming Political Changes Affecting Long Term Care
Coming Political Changes Affecting Long Term Care
Yes changes are coming. The federal government is very interested in moving programs back to states to handle and Medicaid is one of those.
The way this most likely would happen is to “block grant” Medicaid to the states. Give each state a fixed sum of money each year for Medicaid and let each state set their plans and rules themselves.
Will this mean less federal dollars for each state? Yes
Will this mean less money for the people who need and rely on Medicaid? No
If states are freed to set rules that make sense, they will do so and direct Medicaid to those whom it was meant for in the first place. Let me explain. Currently, in Wisconsin, a married spouse of a Medicaid recipient for Long Term Care can keep a house worth up to $828,000. Medicaid will attempt to “recover” from this house after the last death.
Wisconsin does not have a large number of houses or homes of this value. Often Medicaid is not successful in recovering the money they spent on care after the last death. Since reverse mortgages allow the at-home spouse to live in the house, why not require that money used first, before taxpayer dollars?
Secondly, the at-home spouse can keep between $50,000 and $119,220 of savings in their name for future needs. However, the at-home spouse’s IRA is not counted as an asset. This means that the at-home spouse could have a million dollars or more in an IRA while the taxpayers pay the bills for the institutionalized spouse in a nursing home.
How do you feel, as a taxpayer, to be financing the Long Term Care costs of people with millions in assets between expensive homes and IRA accounts? If those who can pay for their own Long Term Care must do so, there will be a lot of money available for those who truly need Long Term Care and cannot pay for it. Unfortunately, Medicaid has become a free money feeding trough for those who know how to access and not spend their own money.
These changes may happen quickly. If you have been planning to have your Long Term Care paid for by Medicaid, and suddenly that rug is pulled out from under you, will you be too old, too unhealthy to purchase Long Term Care insurance?
There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth for those who did not feel they needed to plan for something like this which Health and Human Services (HHS) says that 70% of us who have reached age 65 will need in our lifetimes.
Once you have a bone density problem on record, or have had a stroke, or have diabetes, or a diagnosis of a hundred different health concerns that might lead to needing care – it will be too late to get such insurance coverage.
Don’t be among the wailers and gnashers later. Investigate Long Term Care insurance while you can still get it. 30% of 60 year olds can no longer buy Long Term Care insurance. Investigate this with experts. Call TheLongTermCareGuy.com while you still have time, and let us guide through investigating your options. Call (920) 884-3030
Are You Assuming Medicaid Will Cover Your Long-Term Care?
Many people plan on Medicaid covering their Long-Term Care (LTC) costs. Medicaid is the fallback for people who do not have enough money to pay for this care. It is a payer of last resort and pays the caregivers less than the cost to provide that care for you. That is why many facilities will not accept you unless you have personal funds to pay for at least 2 years of care before turning to Medicaid.
This morning’s Wall Street Journal stated that the Medicaid budget has grown 40% in just 3 years! Yes, some Medicaid pays for health care, but the majority of Medicaid dollars go towards LTC.
10,000 Americans turn 65 every day – and will for another 15 years – as the baby boomers age past 65. Many, if not most of them do not have the savings or insurance to pay for their LTC. Health and Human Services states that by age 65, 70% of us will need LTC. Are you depending on Medicaid to have money left by the time you need help with day to day activities or succumb to dementia?
Let’s review what we have covered so far:
Medicaid is a last resort government welfare program to pay for LTC
It pays less than the cost of care so facilities often say no at the door if you are unable to pay for your care.
The Medicaid budget has grown 40% in just the past 3 years.
Do you see a problem with not planning ahead for your care? Do you think you are too young and healthy to worry about this? If your car is shiny and new and not currently wrapped around a tree do you feel you don’t need car insurance yet?
By 60 years old fully one fourth of us can no longer purchase LTC insurance. How long do you plan to wait before investigating this to see if it fits your budget? Many people are surprised that when coverage is chosen appropriately, it cost less than expected. At TheLongTermCareGuy.com we have access to products most insurance people who “dabble” in LTC insurance do not have. We also have 24 years of experience in helping people choose appropriate coverage. Check us out at www.TheLongTermCareGuy.com or call to review your coverage, or investigate if this is right for you. We are here to help. (920) 884-3030
WHO Will Pay For Your Funeral?
It won’t be your life insurance, that often takes weeks before the money comes. It won’t be your money as that is frozen at death and all Powers of Attorney (POA’s) are instantly null and void at death as well.
Often a family member is called up on to pay those bills (they will be reimbursed later). Do your children have these funds available right now in their checkbook?
There is a special, interest bearing account you can move some of your savings into now, that will be available to pay the entire funeral cost at death – immediately – without waiting for a probate judge to release your money or a life insurance check to arrive in the mail. It is called an irrevocable burial trust account and it’s also exempt from the Medicaid spend-down as well if Long-Term Care ever becomes necessary.
The Long-Term Care problem is serious because Medicaid, which will pay for your care once you are completely “impoverished,” requires that you also cash in your life insurance or final expense policies before you become eligible. This irrevocable burial trust is an exemption to those Medicaid rules and solves the problem of relying on children to pay your final bill.
At The Long Term Care Guy we solve the financial problems of dealing with the high cost of Long-Term Care and this is just one of the ways we can help you. If you want to investigate other solutions to the high costs of Long-Term Care, call us at (920) 884-3030 or (800) 219-9203. We are based in Green Bay but work with financial planners and attorneys as well as families like yours all across Wisconsin.
Think You Are Too Young To Worry About LTC? Think Again!
I just read that the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says “The percentage of adults aged 45 to 64 years who reported needing help with activities of daily living such as eating, bathing, dressing, or getting around inside their residences has increased nearly 50% from 2000 to 2015. This was published in their weekly Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on August 26th.
For years it has been known that 40% of the people needing Long Term Care (LTC) services in this country are between the ages of 18 and 64. LTC is not something that people can ignore until age 85. Just like car insurance, LTC insurance must be purchased while you are healthy – so you have it when you need it.
By 60 years of age, 25% of us cannot qualify healthwise to purchase LTC insurance. The great majority of people cannot afford to pay for such care out of pocket or savings for very long. This leaves them no alternative but to apply for a welfare program called Medicaid.
Medicaid will only pay for LTC when you can prove that you are completely impoverished. In most states that means you have less than $2000 left to your name and have cashed in your life insurance as well. A married spouse can retain use of the home and car but this goes back to the state – not your heirs – after last death.
LTC needs can last for many years. Alzheimer’s is only one of 68 different types of dementia. By age 65, one in eight have it. By age 75 it is one in four and by age 85 it is half of us.
This brings up another study published in the Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences that says “Older adults who do not exercise often – or do not exercise at all – have a 50% greater risk of developing dementia as they age”. Anyone with diabetes also faces a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
Will you wait until it is too late to plan for your LTC when your health changes? Or will you proactively investigate solutions while they are still available? The ability to pay for care not only prevents impoverishment, but gives you choices as to how and where your care will be delivered.
Give TheLongTermCareGuy.com a call to meet and see what you can do for yourself. We are experts who have done nothing but work with LTC financing for 23 years now. There are solutions for almost any budget. (920) 884-3030 or (800) 219-9203
LTC Insurance is Too Expensive!
Lately I have seen clients shown proposals to purchase Long-Term Care insurance with premiums exceeding $10,000 a year for a couple. This is ridiculously expensive for most couples in their fifties, and is probably because the insurance amounts are way too large to be appropriate.
Some insurance agents who “dabble” in LTC insurance products think that everyone needs enough insurance to cover the entire bill. Perhaps they themselves have zero deductible car insurance, which makes no sense either.
If we have a car accident, most of us have some deductible that we will pay before the insurance pays the rest. The larger the deductible, the lower the insurance premium. With most car accidents, our lifestyle does not drastically change, but when LTC is needed, it does.
If one of a couple needs LTC, they are probably not driving anymore. Thus fewer cars, less motorcycles, boats, campers, snowmobiles, ATV’s, etc. will be needed. There will be less trips to Branson, Disney World, cruises, even less going out to dinner when one has a difficult time going anywhere.
Professionals who specialize in LTC planning take these things into consideration. We try to help our clients predict how much of their monthly income is actually required to pay the basic bills, and with less toys and travel – how much of the bill for LTC they can pay out of pocket.
In addition to monthly cash flow, many people can also contribute the interest their savings earn, without touching the principal. Often, the total between available cash flow and monthly interest will cover a significant portion of LTC costs. Only the shortfall needs to come from LTC insurance.
Here is an example for a 65 year old couple. They want to be able to pay for home care and assisted living facility care without using up their life savings. If they do not need to support 2 cars, the extra Corvette “summer car”, the boat, and they understand that when one cannot travel, that expense drops to zero as well, they can pay the majority of the cost of home or assisted living facility care.
Many people plan for just those costs as very few people today need the care of a nursing home, especially if they can afford their home or assisted living care.
In their case it is determined that an additional $2000 a month from LTC insurance will suffice. At age 65 for each, and both in good health, they can purchase that coverage with a 10 year benefit when care is needed, including an automatic 5% compound inflation rider on the monthly benefit for less than $2000 a year each.
With the automatic, built in 5% compound inflation on the benefits payable, by age 85, a 10 year length of claim can give them over $850,000 from the LTC insurance to pay for their care.
Let’s review, at age 65 they purchase LTC insurance that will give them over $850,000 to pay for care over 10 years starting if care is needed at 85, for $1900 a year. Is a premiumk of less than $2000 a year expensive for that?
If you have been shown sky high premiums for LTC insurance, you need to shop around before you buy. Talk to someone who has over 23 years experience in planning for LTC, and can help you size coverage appropriately. Just give us a call at TheLongTermCareGuy.com at (920) 884-3030 or (800) 219-9203 and lets investigate. But don’t wait until your health fails, becasue then it may be too late, for you.
Do You Have A Gap In Your Plan?
Hopefully you have planned and saved to have an income you can live on in retirement. You planned to use Medicare and either a traditional supplement or a Medicare replacement plan (advantage) to cover health care costs. Hopefully your other available income can be used for basic living expenses, travel, and some fun.
Would an unexpected bill that comes each month in the amount of $2000 to $8000 a month be a problem for your plan? For many people, it would. While only 70% of us will need Long-Term Care in our homes or a facility (HHS), less than 15% have sufficiently planned for this.
Does that mean all is lost when care is needed? Not necessarily. There are strategies that can help most anyone deal with the costs of Long-Term Care (LTC).
The least expensive way to deal with this is to purchase LTC insurance while you are still healthy, but this topic is addressing gaps, so let’s assume you did not do that. The government has two programs which can help, Medicare and Medicaid.
We all get Medicare at age 65, whether we retired early or are holding off until later. Medicare is health insurance which, while it does not pay for LTC, will pay for a short recovery stay in a nursing home. Medicare has learned that is it less expensive to have you recover from surgery in a nursing home bed than a hospital bed.
Assuming you are in the hospital as an inpatient for 3 days (two midnights), transfer to a skilled nursing home for recovery purposes, and do some type of recovery care rehab 5 days per week, Medicare can pay for that care for up to 100 days AS LONG AS YOU MAKE PROGRESS EVERY DAY. This typically does not go past 10-12 days.
Thus Medicare is not a useful payer of LTC services, but Medicaid is. Medicaid will pay for LTC once you can prove that you are completely impoverished (broke). Getting to broke is not pleasant. A single person spends down all assets to $2000 and cashes in life insurance, a married, at-home spouse can keep a house, car and some money which Medicaid will take back after death. Thus Medicaid will pay for care but you will have nothing left to pass on.
Medicaid also pays providers much less than you or I would pay by writing checks for our care, thus getting in to where you want care can be difficult.
Now, some solutions: There are ways to make your just a part of your money last as long as you do. A part of your net worth can be converted into life income – taking into account your [much] shorter than average life expectancy when you require care. If you can leave 2/3 of your estate intact to pass on, it’s generally a good thing.
You can also leave money for family through Medicaid allowed gifting. Irrevocable burial or burial spaces trusts can be funded for children and their spouses, moving a good chunk of assets to family and will not be counted as a divestment. Medicaid rules allow this in 49 states.
The important thing to remember is that there are solutions for most any situation that can at least help. If you would like to learn what you can do to protect some money for spouse or family, contact www.TheLongTermCareGuy.com to learn your options.