{"id":17332,"date":"2015-07-16T19:58:53","date_gmt":"2015-07-16T23:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2015\/07\/business-report-plan-now-for-future-health-care.html"},"modified":"2015-07-16T19:58:53","modified_gmt":"2015-07-16T23:58:53","slug":"business-report-plan-now-for-future-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2015\/07\/business-report-plan-now-for-future-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Business Report: Plan Now For Future Health Care"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Debra Verni is a principal of the Herzog Law Firm in Saratoga Springs\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
BY DEBRA VERNI<\/p>\n
Many couples, in their golden years, find \nthemselves wondering: What if one or both of \nthem is admitted into a nursing home and needs \nMedicaid?<\/p>\n
After saving throughout their lives, they are \nfearful that if one of them enters a nursing home, \nthey will have to exhaust their life savings to \npay for the cost of care before they can become \neligible for Medicaid. The average nursing home \ncost is $13,000 per month, which translates to \n$156,000 per year. Don’t let a nursing home take \nall of your hard earned money. If you plan ahead, \nthis can be avoided.<\/p>\n
Many people draft documents when they are \nyoung and never consider reviewing or updating \nthem. Some couples with wills drafted in the \npast, may not realize that their wills could harm \nthem, if they did not consider Medicaid issues \nwhen they executed them. This can result in \ndevastating consequences. \nSometimes, couples attempt to make an estate \nplan where they leave all of their assets to each \nother upon the death of the other spouse. These \nare sometimes referred to as “I Love You” wills.<\/p>\n
This may seem appropriate and easy to do at \nthe time, but if the surviving spouse is on the \nverge of entering a nursing home and then inherits \na large amount of money from the deceased \nspouse, the surviving spouse may not be eligible \nfor Medicaid, or even worse if the surviving \nspouse is already on Medicaid, it may disqualify \nthem from receiving their benefits. Such an estate \nplan could result in an unintentionally difficult \nsituation for the surviving spouse.<\/p>\n
You can protect your assets by using a trust. \nThere are trusts that can be used to help applicants \nqualify for Medicaid or to prevent estate \nrecovery of certain assets. Trusts can also prove \nuseful in preventing individuals who are already \nreceiving public benefits from losing them.<\/p>\n
An applicant who exceeds the income limit \nmay still qualify for benefits, provided all income \nin excess of the income limit is placed into a \ncertain type of trust (sometimes called a “pooled” \ntrust) each month.<\/p>\n
The law related to Medicaid eligibility is \ncomplex and there may be other estate planning \ntechniques you can use. These are only some of \nthe issues. Speak with an attorney about the \npotential steps you must take and the documents \nyou must execute to protect your assets when \ncontemplating future Medicaid coverage.<\/p>\n
Verni is a principal of the Herzog Law Firm in \nSaratoga Springs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Debra Verni is a principal of the Herzog Law Firm in Saratoga SpringsBY DEBRA VERNI Many couples, in their golden years, find themselves wondering: What if one or both of them is admitted into a nursing home and needs…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[67,84,96,129],"yoast_head":"\r\n
Business Report: Plan Now For Future Health Care - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\r\n