In nursing homes, impoverished live final days on pennies

[Northeast Agent]

[EXTERNAL LINK] - In nursing homes, impoverished live final days on pennies

Across the U.S., hundreds of thousands of nursing home residents are locked in a wretched bind: Driven into poverty, forced to hand over all income and left to live on a stipend as low as $30 a month.

In a long-term care system that subjects some of society’s frailest to daily indignities, Medicaid’s personal needs allowance, as the stipend is called, is among the most ubiquitous, yet least known.

Nearly two-thirds of American nursing home residents have their care paid for by Medicaid and, in exchange, all Social Security, pension and other income they would receive is instead rerouted to go toward their bill. The personal needs allowance is meant to pay for anything not provided by the home, from a phone to clothes and shoes to a birthday present for a grandchild.

 

[Dale M Krause]

As an attorney and Medicaid planner for over 30 years, I have helped thousands of families to qualify for Medicaid benefits. Unfortunately, long-term care (LTC) is so expensive that many families cannot afford it. I foresee a bleak future without a significant overhaul of the current system. As the costs of LTC continue to skyrocket, it is becoming increasingly unaffordable, making the need for Medicaid planning more urgent than ever.

For couples who engaged in Medicaid planning before exhausting all their assets, we helped the healthy spouses retain sufficient assets and income, so they were not impoverished. For individuals who engaged in Medicaid planning before exhausting all their assets, we were able to preserve 40% to 60% for the next generation. Even though the next generation was under no legal obligation to support their parent, they had the economic means to do so.