Qualifying for paid long-term care while preserving and protecting your hard-earned assets

Medi-Cal is the government program that pays for long-term care in California for qualified persons.  This means despite paying into this system all your working career, you may not qualify for Medi-Cal if you haven’t planned properly.  Long-term care can include in-home health care services and long-term nursing home stays. Long-term care is just one component of planning for later in life, but asset protection for you and your loved ones is just as important.  Planning for Medi-Cal coverage falls under elder law planning which includes estate planning and asset protection. Breunig Law has the experience and skill to help avoid the financial devastation associated with the high cost of long-term care.

These are three ways to cover in home health care and skilled nursing home costs:

1. Private pay (typically $6,500 to $12,000)
2. Long-term Care Insurance (usually too expensive by the time you need it)
3. Medi-Cal (you paid into the program every paycheck you received)

With people living into their 80’s, 90’s and longer, the likelihood of needing long-term care increases. But waiting until the care is needed can put you in a difficult position to quickly get coverage. Medi-Cal has strict qualification guidelines.  If you don’t understand the process and apply incorrectly, then you may face having to pay up to $12,000 per month until you have spent down your estate.  Knowing the rules and planning for such a crisis is a key focus at Breunig Law, Inc.

These programs are not all the same even though they sound similar.

Medicare

Medicare is a program that provides health care coverage for people 65 or over and some with severe disabilities regardless of income.

Medicare typically will cover inpatient hospital and nursing facility stays for a short period of time, as well as hospice and some in-home healthcare, doctor’s visits, medical supplies, and outpatient care.

Medicaid/Medi-Cal

Medicaid is a Federal program that is called Medi-Cal in California.  All other state programs use the term Medicaid. Medi-Cal provides health coverage to families that meet the low-income threshold, as well as pregnant women and the blind primarily. However, with proper estate and asset planning many middle- and upper-income families can become eligible for Medi-Cal to help cover the cost of long-term care.

Medi-Cal is used for approximately 65% of the nursing home residents in California to cover nursing home expenses which could be as high as $12,000 a month. To become eligible for Medi-Cal, there are specific eligibility rules for in-home health care services and long-term skill nursing home stays.

There are two types of planning:

• Proactive planning (while you are healthy)
• Crisis planning (when you are about to go into a nursing home)

It makes sense to start planning while you are healthy, even if it is just 3 years prior to needing care. If there is a history of health problems with you or your family, it is even more important to start planning now. With proper planning your assets can be better protected so you don’t have to worry that your estate and life savings will be wiped out.

While the rules are very complex, we analyze what you need to do to qualify for benefits. With proper planning, you can protect your assets, home, investments, and savings while still qualifying for Medi-Cal benefits.

Breunig Law provides compassionate, skilled, and experienced services you can trust for counseling, drafting, and execution of a well-thought-out estate plan that will protect your assets, support your families’ unique needs, help you qualify for Medi-Cal to cover any long-term care needs and save you and your family money and stress.

• Complete Estate Plan Trust packages (Revocable, Irrevocable, Special Needs, Charitable, and more)
• Asset Protection Trusts for Medi-Cal Eligibility
• Update existing wills and trusts
• Estate Administration
• Probate
• Elder Law Planning
• Advanced Health Care Directives
• Advanced Elder Law Power of Attorney to manage financial affairs when incapacitated (Critical for crisis planning and Medi-Cal)

Together we can prepare a plan that works best for you and your family and will prepare you for Medi-Cal coverage for your long-term care needs. Contact us today for a consultation at 916-672-2042 or info@breuniglaw.com.