I Wish I Talked to My Parents About Estate Planning

I felt as if I was having a heart attack from the shock. The nursing home administrator has just said, "It's going to cost $365 a day not including his medical care or medication" The regret came later when I realized we should have discussed these issues before my father needed long-term care.

The discussion of parental assets and savings is a topic many adult children avoid. Personal experience has made me realize that rising health care costs and the increasing limits on Medicare and Medicaid assistance makes discussing these issues essential to your parent's long-term health and financial security.

Government Asset Limits

Discuss your parent's net worth to determine their government qualification status. With the exception of Medicare and Social Security, all other senior citizen government assistance programs have income qualification requirements. States,such as Illinois, do not qualify seniors as "low-income" unless their monthly income is under a certain amount and their assets, excluding their place of residence, are under $100,000. Each state determines their low-income limits as a result parents with assets even one dollar over these are not qualified to participate. [1][2]

Long-term Care Insurance

Talk to your parents about getting long-term care insurance. According to The National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care 70 percent of seniors over 65 will require long-term care services at some point. When you consider that the 2008, national average cost over $68,000 for a semi-private room not including medication and physician costs you can see that long-term care insurance become an important conversation for families and the long-term health care of your parents. The cost of long-term care insurance policies vary and prices are determined based on age, the policy type and the optional benefits chosen such as inflation protection. [3][4][5][6]

What to Do

Have the conversation as a family and retain an elder care attorney. Qualified elder care attorneys assist their senior clients with obtaining public benefits. Elder care attorneys help with estate and long-term care planning and are qualified to assist with other senior related issues such as guardianship. Elder care attorneys current with government regulations so they specialize in protecting family assets and in providing the needed legal support to get government assistance. [6][7]

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References:

[1] Department of Health and Human Services: Medicaid Requirements

[2] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Illinois Medicaid and KidCare Eligibility

[3] The National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care: Why should you plan?

[4] The National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care: Cost of Long-Term Care

[5] The National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care: Long-term Care Insurance

[6] National Academy of Elder Care Attorneys: What is an Elder Law Attorney?

[7] Federal Interagency Forum on Statistics: Number of Older Americans