While no one wants to think about the implications of needing long-term care, it’s important that you plan for it. Otherwise, you and your family could be left scrambling to figure out how to pay for your care, which can erode the wealth you’ve accumulated and intended to pass down to your loved ones.
But how can you effectively plan for a potential nursing home stay? It might seem like a daunting process, but there are steps you can take now to better ensure that you receive necessary care, should the need arise, while protecting the integrity of your estate. Let’s take a closer look at how you can do that.
Steps you can take now to effectively plan for nursing home care
There’s a lot to consider when thinking about long-term care, including a potential nursing home stay. But don’t let the process overwhelm you. Instead, break it down into more manageable steps, including the following:
- Gain an understanding of the costs: To determine the best way to cover the costs of a potential nursing home stay, you have to understand the expenses involved. So, conduct some research to gauge how much you might have to pay should the need for long-term care arise. This will give you some direction as far as how to develop a plan to meet your potential care needs.
- Analyze the resources at your disposal: Once you know how much long-term care might cost you, consider what resources you have on hand to pay for it. That can include your savings, but it might also include a long-term care insurance policy. If it looks like you’re not going to be able to cover your potential nursing home costs on your own, then you probably need to start thinking about Medicaid planning.
- Consider whether you can save for your care: If you don’t have the funds necessary to cover potential long-term care needs, then consider whether you have the time to build up a reserve to help cover those costs before they arise. Again, a long-term care insurance policy may be something to consider here, but don’t over-estimate your ability to cover these exorbitant costs.
- Gain an understanding of Medicaid eligibility: There are effective ways to reduce your income and your assets so that you qualify for Medicaid benefits. If successful in doing so, you might also preserve portions of your estate that you can then pass down to loved ones. But if you don’t understand eligibility requirements or the lookback period, then you could make a misstep that proves costly and disastrous to your planning. So, be sure to discuss Medicaid planning with your attorney so that you have a better idea of what you can and should do to meet eligibility requirements if this is the path that looks most advantageous for you.
Don’t be taken by surprise when long-term care needs arise
You might be healthy now, but it’s best to plan for a worst-case scenario so that you’re as prepared as possible moving into the future. This ensures that you’ll be able to receive the care that you want and need while still protecting your estate as much as possible for your loved ones to enjoy. Effective long-term care planning also takes the pressure off your family to figure out what type of care you need and how to pay for it when the time comes. So, don’t wait too long to get your long-term care plan together. Instead, work closely with your attorney now so that you can rest assured that this issue is taken care of appropriately.