Can You Help Your Elderly Mother with the Cost of Long-Term Care?
You may feel somewhat helpless when your aging mother needs support. Perhaps her doctor or medical situation has made it clear that long-term care is necessary. Yet, while your mother has some savings and investments, and owns her house, you worry about the future. You’re not concerned about an inheritance; you want her to be protected, safe, and well cared for. However, as you begin investigating the different long-term care options, you start to realize how costly it is. Long-term care insurance cost will out way the cost of long-term care.
In some cases, your jaw has dropped. After all, who would’ve thought that a nursing home could cost six digits every year? Does your mother need a nursing home at this stage in her life? Maybe not yet, but is that a possibility? It might very well be.
So, you might be trying to make sense of everything and figure out what is the best option, both for her needs and her finances.
Will Medicaid cover these expenses?
Most people assume that Medicaid or Medicare is going to cover their long-term care expenses after they reach the age of 67, the official retirement age as of 2022. However, the federal government through Medicaid is only going to provide coverage for long-term care at nursing homes, in most states.
And it is only going to provide coverage after the senior has used all of their available assets and savings, which often includes the equity in their home. That means your mother will need to pay for that out of her own pocket.
What about her health insurance?
If she has private health insurance still, most policies only provide short-term care coverage, not long-term care. That means your mother is still going to have to pay for this on her own.
How is she going to afford it and will long-term care insurance cost be affordable?
You’ve done the math. You’ve looked at all the options. You figure she can afford this for maybe two-and-a-half or three years, tops. Then what? Then she might have to go to a nursing home where Medicaid might cover those expenses, but that’s not really where you want her. You want her home, where she’s most comfortable.
Long-term care insurance is the one benefit that people could turn to that helps cover long-term care expenses. If your mother is already in need, though, advanced in years, over 70, for example, then long-term care insurance is not going to help her.
However, if she’s in her 50s or early 60s, she might still qualify for a policy. You could, too. These are things most people don’t consider as they move through their 30s, 40s, and 50s. They never contemplate the need for long-term care in their life. Then, when it’s almost too late, they realize the benefit long-term care insurance could offer.
If you want to look into this for her or yourself, don’t waste any more time. The sooner you begin a policy and take on long-term care insurance cost, the more affordable it might be. But there is a time when most insurance companies are going to deny this type of coverage, so don’t wait.
If you or a loved one are considering a Long-Term Care Insurance Cost in Del Mar CA, please contact Steve Elliott at Capstone Insurance for an honest discussion about your future and your options. Call today (858) 350-3161.
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