Perhaps you or a loved one is currently transitioning into a nursing home, or perhaps such an event isn’t on your radar at all. Regardless, you deserve to know your options for creating an estate plan that is prepared for such a scenario.
Creating an Estate Plan That’s Ready for Long-Term Care
We will talk through how your trust and power of attorney can be designed to help you qualify for long-term care benefits, should you ever need that. Often when a client, or the client’s family, realizes that nursing home residency is imminent, that client lacks the required capacity to change his or her plan. As a result, he or she is “stuck” with an insufficient plan. You should speak to the right attorney and find out your options before that happens.
Qualifying for Medi-Cal for Long-Term Care
It’s no secret that long-term care (often called “nursing home” or “skilled nursing” care) is expensive. As of the latest update of this paragraph, in 2023, the “average private pay rate” (APPR), Medi-Cal’s published, state-wide monthly average cost for long-term care, is $11,576 per month. However, anecdotal experience, especially here in the Bay Area, has shown me it can be much more than that.
As you can imagine, for many people, paying for long-term care can wipe out a lifetime of savings in a hurry. However, California and federal law provide options to get Medi-Cal coverage to help pay for long-term care without selling your home or going broke in the process.
Qualifying Without Going Broke
It may be possible to qualify without “spending down” all your assets. The asset limit – the value of assets you are allowed to own to qualify for Medi-Cal – $130,000 for an individual and $65,000 for each additional household member (those numbers are much higher than they were just recently). Crucially, not all property is counted. Your home, for example is not counted. Additionally, the law offers ways to “convert” countable assets to non-countable assets, and it also offers some surprising ways to transfer assets to love ones without penalties, if, of course, this otherwise makes sense given your situation. This is something you would need to speak about with me or another qualified attorney.
Other Considerations
Of course, qualifying for Medi-Cal – and being prepared to qualify in a hurry if you need to – is not the only consideration. As you age and become less independent, you want to manage your quality of life, stay at home as long as possible, and ensure the best quality of care possible given the circumstances. I will work with you with your goals in mind for a plan that makes sense for your unique situation.