LONG-TERM CARE PLANNING 101
We do a lot of Medicaid planning here at The Hughes Law Firm. That means that we work with families to help them find money to pay for nursing homes, assisted living expenses and home health care costs when they just can’t manage everything on their own.
Long term care is expensive and, without careful planning, a stay in a nursing home can easily bankrupt all but the wealthy. Considering that the average cost of a nursing home in Colorado is $6,500 a month, you’re looking at a bill close to $400,000 for a family member with Alzheimer’s disease whose nursing home stay is typically 5 years or more.
What most people don’t realize is that, as a general rule, Colorado Medicaid will only pay the nursing home bill if your cash is below $2,000. Medicare will only cover you for a maximum of 20 days (and only a small part of the next 80 days), if they cover you at all. Social Security won’t cover these bills whatsoever. Only Colorado Medicaid will cover you, but you have to be virtually broke to qualify for it.
Over the course of the next several months, I will spoon feed you the plain-English rules about Colorado Medicaid and show you how to qualify for coverage while still protecting your home and life savings. I will teach you what you can do to protect your assets so you don’t get in trouble with Medicaid and have them penalize you. I will also teach you what you cannot do.
In the meantime, if you or a loved one find that some type of long-term care is necessary and you want some help immediately from our elder law attorneys, don’t hesitate to give us a call on our Long-Term Care Helpline at (303) 409-3578.
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