Long-Term Care is the assistance provided when an individual is no longer able to safely care for themselves as a result of a disability or prolonged illness. Such assistance ranges from providing personal care at home to skilled nursing services in a Nursing Home. Long-Term Care may be offered through Private Duty Agencies, Adult Day Care Centers, Assisted Living Facilities, Adult Care Homes, Senior Centers, and traditional Nursing Homes.

We have worked in the Elder care industry for the last 15 years. During that time, we have seen people's life savings wasted away because they did not have long-term care, or the financial planning that they so severely needed. Everything that they worked their whole lives for was diminished within a few years and, in some cases, a few months. No one plans to be destitute, they just plain fail to plan. Often, this left the spouse with the financial burden, which in many cases has turned into their children's financial burden. We are now faced with the situation that life expectancy has increased dramatically over the last decade.

Are you going to be ready? Are you aware that a child born in 2000 now has the average life expectancy of 120 years of age? They have not disclosed what the quality will be, but as you can see, there is the quantity that we have to prepare for now. Long-Term Care policies offer you the peace of mind of knowing that you will have a choice of where you will receive care, while not burdening your estate or family members with the high costs of care. Studies have shown that nearly 50% of those who turn age 65 will require Nursing Home care at some time in their life. One in three people who live to age 65 will spend three months or more in a Nursing Home, while one  in four will spend one year or more in a Nursing Home. While 60% of people who will need Long-Term Care are 65 and older, 40% are adults in their prime earning years between ages 16 to 64. It is an unfortunate fact that untimely injuries or illnesses may strike at any time. Long-Term Care is expensive! Medicare and most health insurance policies will not pay for Assisted Living. The current average costs of Nursing Home care is $55,000.00 per year and rising. Personal care at home from an aid three times a week for two hours a day can cost an excess of $10,000.00 per year. If you want to have care in your own home 24 hours a day, the average costs in excess $140,000.00 per year, this is for an unlicensed care provider. Adult Care Home's will provide 24-hour care for your loved one at typical cost of $36,000.00 per year.

Who pays for Long-Term Care? Quite simply you pay for it through your cash, your assets and your family's assets. Medicaid provides no assistance until all of your assets and your spouses' assets have been consumed. Such people who have higher assets of income end up "Spending down", their life savings, and assets to nearly nothing, in order to qualify for Medicaid benefits.

In our 15 years in the industry, it was not uncommon to see people who thought that they had planned ahead for retirement, only to have to spend down six figures, and become paupers in less than 18 months. If only we could have met them before it was too late, and helped them bulletproof their estates with an appropriate trust, annuities, life insurance and Long-Term Care Insurance. With such financial shields and vehicles in place their choices and independence would have been protected in their time of need. You see, only when your assets run dry does Medicaid step in; however, at this point, you will no longer have the choice of who provides your care or where the care is provided. You are now dependent on the state and a faceless social worker controls your destiny. You have just lost all of your assets and your independence. Your choices are non-existent. But, there is hope!

A Long-Term Care Policy, when properly crafted, can shield you from the grim reality of Nursing Home/ Assisted Living care. A Long-Term Care Policy can pay for assistance either in your home, in Assisted Living, or in a Nursing Home.

If your loved one is already ill, or perhaps already in a nursing home, do not despair. While they will not qualify for a standard insurance company's Long-Term Care Policy, there is still hope. We may be able to qualify your loved one for Arizona Long-Term Care. It is an alternative to private insurance, and we can work it into any estate plan.

Statistics show that about half of all people reaching 65 will reside in a nursing home at some time in their lives. In a perfect world, the person would be covered by nursing home insurance, but for those who are not, the earlier in the aging process that the family analyzes its financial situation and reaches a clear understanding of asset protection planning techniques, the greater the likelihood that assets can be preserved.

The decision to place a love one in a nursing home is a difficult one. While the utmost concern is to obtain the best care available, finances may sometimes be an obstacle very difficult to overcome. It can cost between $48,000 and $72,000 annually for nursing home care.
The odds of ending up in a nursing home are increasing every day for older Americans. It helps to remember that there are three ways to pay for long-term nursing home care:

To resolve the problem, the community spouse contacted an Arizona elder law attorney and inquired about qualifying his wife for Arizona Medicaid.

With a spend-down amount of $125,000.00, when looking at the available Medicaid planning options, including: (1) obtaining additional non-countable resources, (2) improving existing non-countable resources, or (3) purchasing a Medicaid Annuity, it was clear to the community spouse that options (1) and (2) would provide him with limited relief. After establishing prepaid funeral plans, and upgrading the family automobile, the community spouse decided to eliminate the remaining spend-down through the purchase of a Level Monthly Payout Medicaid Annuity*.

*A Level Monthly Payout Medicaid Annuity was designed to pay equal monthly payments throughout the entire Medicaid lifetime of the individual.

With a net spend-down amount of $105,000.00, and Social Security monthly income of $1,000.00, and the community spouse being 83 years of age, and having 5.85 years/70.2 months Medicaid life expectancy, he was able to receive the following monthly payments from the Medicaid Annuity company: