Long-term care may not want to be something about which you want to think, but it is one of those things for which it is better to prepare than to ignore. This type of care can be expensive. While you do not know what type of care you may need, it is helpful to consider how you would fund it.
Long-term care may include a nursing home, personal care, assisted living or in-home care services. Your Medicare insurance may cover some of the costs, but it rarely will cover it all. Therefore, you need to make a plan as you grow older. Beyond using traditional long-term care insurance, there are two options people most often use.
Self-funding
Self-funding means paying for your care yourself. Most people are not in the financial position to do this. Long-term care may be costly and will likely require you to spend most or all of your savings and assets.
Medicaid
Forbes explains that for nursing home care, you can try to secure Medicaid, which is assistance from the government or welfare. Eligibility for Medicaid is income and asset based. The limits are strict and could require asset liquidation before applying.
You may hear about the look-back period, which allows the state to see how you have handled your assets in the years prior to applying for Medicaid. The look-back period is presently five (5) years. This scrutiny is to determine if you gifted or transferred assets without fair consideration when you could have used these assets to pay for your long-term care. There are other blogs on our website discussing more specifics about Medicaid eligibility.