Orlando Estate & Elder Law

Medicaid Nightmare Looming in Louisiana

If the Louisiana legislature cannot fix a budget shortfall soon, 30,000 nursing home residents in the state will be evicted on July 1st.

It would probably come as a shock for most nursing home residents, if they were suddenly sent an eviction notice. It would be even more shocking if the residents were all on Medicaid and the government was paying for their care.

That is about to happen to some 30,000 nursing home residents in Louisiana who are on Medicaid.

The state faces a revenue shortage and the Louisiana House's budget cuts include Medicaid funding. That would mean that the state Medicaid program will no longer be able to pay for nursing home care, as of July 1.

The notices are being sent out by law as the USA Today reports in "More than 30,000 nursing home eviction notices to be sent in Louisiana Thursday."

There is still time for the state to fix this problem. However, there appears to be an impasse between the governor and the legislature over funding. Something similar could also eventually happen in other states.

As the population of the U.S. gets older, Medicaid expenses are growing for both the states and the federal government. Many states are looking for ways to change their programs to save money and the Trump administration has given them greater flexibility to do.

It is not certain how far the administration will allow states to go. For example, Kansas was recently denied its request to limit the number of years a person could be on its program. However, the administration has been more amenable to imposing work requirements on recipients who are not disabled.

For more information about estate planning in Orlando, FL (and throughout the rest of Central Florida), visit our estate planning website and be sure to subscribe to our complimentary estate planning e-newsletter while you are there.

Reference: USA Today (May 7, 2018) "More than 30,000 nursing home eviction notices to be sent in Louisiana Thursday."

A Tale of Medicaid and Funerals

If you want to plan in advance for your own funeral so that your family does not have to make the arrangements, one of the questions to consider is whether or not you should also pay in advance. The answer might depend on your expected Medicaid needs.

In general, it is a good idea to pre-plan your own funeral.  This allows you to determine where and how your remains will be handled. It also removes a potential burden for your family when they will be in mourning over you.

Funeral homes offer many different types of pre-planning packages that include various levels of services. You can often even transfer a plan between funeral homes, if necessary.

If you do pre-plan your funeral, you'll need to decide whether to pay for everything now to lock in the price. Whether that is a good idea might depend on Medicaid, as The New York Times reports in "Want to Plan for Your Death and Funeral? Here's How."

When you pay the funeral home in advance, you are essentially giving it a free savings account. The funeral home can save the money and earn interest on it. If you do not anticipate passing away anytime soon, you would be better off saving that same amount of money and earning interest on it yourself.

However, if you anticipate needing Medicaid to pay for long-term nursing home care, paying in advance for funeral services can be a good way to lower your assets, if done correctly. For any questions about whether paying in advance is a good idea, you should consult with an elder law attorney.

For more information about estate planning in Orlando, FL (and throughout the rest of Central Florida), visit our estate planning website and be sure to subscribe to our complimentary estate planning e-newsletter while you are there.

Reference: New York Times (Feb. 20, 2018) "Want to Plan for Your Death and Funeral? Here's How."

Death Coming Earlier in the U.S.

Opioid deaths, as well as rapidly rising drug deaths in U.S. may be to blame.

The age at which people will pass away is very important to some people.

Insurance companies need to know for their actuarial tables, so they know what rates they should charge. The government needs to know as well for its estimates regarding future Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs.

Because of the importance of knowing when people will most likely pass away, measurements have been developed to give those needing the information a general idea. Life expectancy is a well-known example.  However, there are others, including a measure called the premature death rate.

This premature death rate measures the number of years of life lost below the age of 75 per 100,000 people, as Think Advisor reports in "U.S. Premature Death Impact Climbs for Third Straight Year."

A new study has found that the U.S. is going in the wrong direction. For the third straight year, the premature death rate has risen. This means that more years are being lost prematurely per 100,000 people.

While no one can be certain just why Americans are not living as long as they did previously, this new study strongly indicates that the opioid crisis takes considerable blame as well as the rapid rise of drug deaths in the U.S.

If the study is correct about the reason for more premature deaths, then it is likely that the government will need to do more to address opioids in the near future.

For information about estate planning in Orlando, FL (and throughout the rest of Central Florida), visit our estate planning website and be sure to subscribe to our complimentary estate planning e-newsletter while you are there.

Reference: Think Advisor (Dec. 12, 2017) "U.S. Premature Death Impact Climbs for Third Straight Year."

Death Coming Earlier in the U.S.

Opioid deaths, as well as rapidly rising drug deaths in U.S. may be to blame.

The age at which people will pass away is very important to some people.

Insurance companies need to know for their actuarial tables, so they know what rates they should charge. The government needs to know as well for its estimates regarding future Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs.

Because of the importance of knowing when people will most likely pass away, measurements have been developed to give those needing the information a general idea. Life expectancy is a well-known example.  However, there are others, including a measure called the premature death rate.

This premature death rate measures the number of years of life lost below the age of 75 per 100,000 people, as Think Advisor reports in "U.S. Premature Death Impact Climbs for Third Straight Year."

A new study has found that the U.S. is going in the wrong direction. For the third straight year, the premature death rate has risen. This means that more years are being lost prematurely per 100,000 people.

While no one can be certain just why Americans are not living as long as they did previously, this new study strongly indicates that the opioid crisis takes considerable blame as well as the rapid rise of drug deaths in the U.S.

If the study is correct about the reason for more premature deaths, then it is likely that the government will need to do more to address opioids in the near future.

For information about estate planning in Orlando, FL (and throughout the rest of Central Florida), visit our estate planning website and be sure to subscribe to our complimentary estate planning e-newsletter while you are there.

Reference: Think Advisor (Dec. 12, 2017) "U.S. Premature Death Impact Climbs for Third Straight Year."

Medicaid Pays For Majority of Long-Term Care

While Congress is currently debating possible deep cuts in Medicaid, many people are wondering what that might mean for them should they ever need long-term care in a nursing home.

Medicaid is the government program that provides health care to poor people. The debate over it, often focuses on how much is being spent on poor children and poor working age people.

What is often left out of the debate, is that Medicaid also provides services to a great many elderly people.

In fact, the majority of people in nursing homes today have their care paid for by Medicaid. With potential cuts possible in the future, Medicaid reductions have implications for people who are now nearing retirement age.

This is the subject of a New York Times article titled "How the Medicaid Debate Affects Long-Term Care Insurance Decisions."

Estimates are that approximately half of the people turning 65 today, will eventually need nursing home care. Many of them can expect to need it for five years or more.

If Medicaid will not be available to pay for that care in the future, then people need to make plans for how they will pay for their care.

There are options available, such as self-funding for those who can afford it and long-term care insurance, which is very expensive.

If you have questions about your options for nursing home care in the future, consult with an elder law attorney about them. However, the future of long-term care is still uncertain and the government might find alternative ways to pay for it.

For more information about elder law and  estate planning in Orlando, FL (and throughout the rest of Central Florida), visit our estate planning website and be sure to subscribe to our complimentary estate planning e-newsletter while you are there.

Reference: New York Times (July 14, 2017) "How the Medicaid Debate Affects Long-Term Care Insurance Decisions."

The Medicaid Debate Is Personal

Most Americans do not think about Medicaid very much. They think that it is just the health care program for poor people that they will not personally ever need. However, if you have any desire to live into old age, then you should be concerned about the debate over the program currently going on in Congress.

Medicaid is the extremely expensive government program. It is intended to provide health care for the poorest Americans.

Medicaid is often an easy program for politicians to attack as too costly, because most Americans are not poor and do not think they will ever be poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

Thus, when a politician talks about cutting the costs of the program, it is easy for many people to nod their heads in agreement.

The problem?

Medicaid is not that simple.

Many people who do not think they will ever need Medicaid are mistaken, as The New York Times points out in "Plan on Growing Old? Then the Medicaid Debate Affects You."

Medicaid provides health care for a substantial number of the nation's elderly.

More than 60% of people in nursing homes have their care paid for by the program. Many more receive home health care through the program.

If you grow old and outlive your retirement funds, which is easy to do given the costs of health care for the elderly, then you might need Medicaid to pay for your care someday.

We should all take a personal interest in it, because our future interests are at stake.

For more information about Medicaid and estate planning in Orlando, FL (and throughout the rest of Central Florida), visit our estate planning website and be sure to subscribe to our complimentary estate planning e-newsletter while you are there.

Reference: New York Times (June 30, 2017) "Plan on Growing Old? Then the Medicaid Debate Affects You."

Five Years Needed for Medicaid Pre-Planning

People who anticipate that they might need Medicaid to pay for long-term nursing home care, need to plan ahead for it, if they hope to leave their heirs with an inheritance.

Staying in a nursing home for a long time is an excellent way to drain all of your finances and leave nothing for heirs. It is very expensive.

The government will help pay for long-term care in a nursing home through Medicaid, but Medicaid is only meant to pay for the poor. It is for people with no resources to pay on their own.  Therefore, going on Medicaid is not a good way to preserve assets from nursing home expenses.

One way around this, is to intentionally not have any assets. Everything can be given away to heirs before going into a nursing home and requesting Medicaid, right?

Not so fast. It is not quite as simple as that. Planning for Medicaid needs to be done carefully, as the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog discusses in "Planning Ahead For Medicaid Approval."

The first thing to be aware of is that the government has clawback provisions that prevent people from giving away assets for the purpose of receiving Medicaid.

Any transfers made within five years prior to requesting Medicaid, will be scrutinized. If the transfers were for less than fair market value, then Medicaid eligibility can be denied.

It is possible to use irrevocable trusts to get around Medicaid eligibility problems.

Needless to say, those trusts need to be created very carefully and they also need to be created ahead of time.

The services of an elder law attorney are absolutely necessary to properly create the trusts.

For more information about elder law and estate planning and valuation in Orlando, FL (and throughout the rest of Central Florida), visit our estate planning website and be sure to subscribe to our complimentary estate planning e-newsletter while you are there.

Reference: Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog (June 16, 2017) "Planning Ahead For Medicaid Approval."

Long Lives Challenge Retirement Plans

On the whole, Americans are woefully unprepared for retirement. If current trends continue,  it will be an even bigger problem than you might imagine.

When it comes to Americans and retirement savings, study after study shows the same thing. The average American saved far less than experts think they will need.

There are many reasons for this situation, but the reasons for not saving are not as important as what it means for future senior citizens.

The biggest problem is that even people who think they have saved more than enough might need to evaluate their own plans and save more. This warning is provided by the New York Times in "Rethinking Retirement for Longer Lives With Fewer Safety Nets."

The biggest issue is simply that people are living longer than ever before, on average. That trend is expected to continue as medical science progresses. No one is certain just how long people will live after retirement in the future.

People who have planned to save for 20 years of retirement living might actually need to save for 30, 40 or even more years. This also creates problems for elderly safety nets.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are already under financial stress because of the large number of Baby Boomers entering their retirement years. The longer people live, the more that those programs will need to pay out. Many people believe the programs will have to offer substantially fewer benefits in the future.

If you want to retire comfortably and still have an estate left for your children and grandchildren to inherit, then it is important that you review your retirement plans and make sure you really are saving enough.

For more information about estate planning in Orlando, FL (and throughout the rest of Central Florida), visit our estate planning website and be sure to subscribe to our complimentary estate planning e-newsletter while you are there.

Reference: New York Times (Feb. 27, 2017) "Rethinking Retirement for Longer Lives With Fewer Safety Nets."

Costs of Alzheimer's Can Unbalance Any Budget

Alzheimer's is so expensive to treat, that it presents a very real threat to both Medicaid and Medicare.

The mostly costly disease to treat is Alzheimer's.  A total of one out of every five dollars spent by Medicaid and Medicare is currently used to treat the disease.

If the costs are not brought down dramatically, the future of both programs could be in jeopardy. Why? Americans are living longer and longer, which means that more people are or will be in need of Alzheimer's treatment.

If the current trends continue, in the future one out of every three dollars spent by Medicaid and Medicare will go toward treating Alzheimer's, according to FOX News in "Could Alzheimer's really bankrupt Medicare and Medicaid."

Both programs are already extremely expensive and face financial difficulties in the future. With their present funding, they will not be able to afford a large increase in Alzheimer's diagnoses and treatments.

What does this mean?

Research into preventing and curing the disease is more important than ever.  The development of new less expensive treatment methods would also be helpful.

This is another of the many ways that an aging population could threaten the country's current institutions and practices, unless action is taken. Our programs were not designed with a substantial increase in longevity in mind.

Other issues include paying for nursing home care, the health of the Social Security system, the availability of home health aides and a cultural change brought on by people having to wait longer to receive their inheritances.

For more information about elder law estate planning in Orlando, FL (and throughout the rest of Central Florida), visit our estate planning website and be sure to subscribe to our complimentary estate planning e-newsletter while you are there.

Reference: FOX News (March 1, 2017) "Could Alzheimer's really bankrupt Medicare and Medicaid."

You Thought Kids Cost A Lot?!

New data has revealed that it is now more costly for families to care for elderly parents than it is for them to raise children.

Everyone knows that kids are not cheap. To raise a child from infancy to high school graduation puts enormous strains on families.

New government data has recently revealed that the average family spends $234,000 to raise a child to the age of 17. While that might seem like a lot, it is nothing compared to the costs of taking care of an elderly person.

The average cost of just four years of long-term care for an elderly person is $140,000, according to Forbes in "Families Spend More To Care For Their Aging Parents Than To Raise Their Kids."

As the article points out, parents receive a lot of government support to help offset the costs of raising children. The support comes in the form of tax credits and exemptions, in some cases. Lower income families receive support in other ways, such as food stamps and free school lunches.

While there is some support for taking care of the elderly because of Social Security and Medicare, there could be a lot more. Medicaid only pays for the long-term care of elderly people who do not have assets.

Families need to be aware of the high cost of caring for the elderly, so that they can plan accordingly. Money needs to be saved to cover the potential costs.

It might also be a good idea for elder advocates to use this data to argue for more support for families who care for their elderly relatives.

For more information about elder law and estate planning in Orlando, FL (and throughout the rest of Central Florida), visit our estate planning website and be sure to subscribe to our complimentary estate planning e-newsletter while you are there.

Reference: Forbes (Jan. 18, 2017) "Families Spend More To Care For Their Aging Parents Than To Raise Their Kids."