Long Term Care Planning
As the general population ages, an increasing number of families are faced with the dilemma of how best to care for their elderly family members. Can my parents still take care of themselves? Should mom still be living alone? Should we intervene in Dad’s health care decisions? Is it time to take over their financial decisions?
These are emotional and difficult questions. We can assist families in structuring a Long Term Care Plan for their elder family members. “Long term care planning” is a separate and distinct issue from concerns about “basic healthcare costs.” Most people can afford to pay for most or all of their general healthcare costs through some combination of health insurance, employer provided health insurance, or Medicare. This is not the case for long term care services.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell where basic health care stops and long term care starts. Speaking very generally, long term care starts where basic health care services stop. At times they overlap. Basic health care includes services for acute medical care, physician services, and other health maintenance and preventive health services. Long term care deals with the person’s ongoing needs such as physical assistance, assisted living, home equipment, dressing, bathing, and household chores.
Chronic health issues occur over a long period of time. Illnesses such a Dementia, Parkinson’s, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Alzheimer’s are just a few of these long term debilitating conditions. As Americans age and prepare for retirement, many have overlooked the need to perform long term care planning. Caring for loved ones with long term care needs can drain a family’s resources in a relatively short period of time.
We can assist you with the legal issues surrounding the choice of an assisted living facility or nursing home. We can put you in touch with local resources in the community. We can help you make sure your elder family member, spouse, or special needs child can keep their valuable governmental benefits without depleting the family’s estate.
Long term care planning is not just a healthcare issue, but also a key retirement planning consideration for Americans today. How are such services to be provided? Who will provide them? How will it be paid for? Let us help you coordinate and plan for your long term care issues.
