The growth of elder law is one of the latest niche services offered to seniors and their children. The service will grow extensively as the population of America ages over the next 10 to 15 years.

Elder law attorneys can serve as unofficial liaisons between seniors and caregivers – and retirement facilities – addressing the financial needs and options necessary for retirement, especially nursing care.

P. L. Fields LLC of Senior Strategies – Attorney in Elder Law and Medicaid Planning from Clemson South Carolina – has written the following article. It’s a primer for seniors, their caregivers, and the nursing homes that await them.

The decision to place loved ones into a nursing home is extremely difficult, causing guilt for caregivers. Elder care lawyers see that many caregivers are under great stress when facing what they consider to be drastic action.

I counsel our caregiver clients to get beyond the guilt as quickly as they can.

That said, there are really only three ways to pay for a stay in a nursing home.

Long Term Care Insurance (LTCI): If your parents were far-sighted, they may have purchased LTCI. This would be an excellent source of funds to help defray some or all long term care costs. Unfortunately, very few seniors, those over age 60, have LTCI coverage.

Self Pay: This essentially means that your parents have enough income or financial assets to pay their own way in the nursing home. However, many families don’t have the income or the financial asset base to be able to pay $4,000 to $7,500 or more a month for a bed for very long in a nursing home.

Medicaid: This is a state-administered medical benefit program which will pay for the cost of a nursing home stay if three tests are met:

• medical need
• asset
• income

Medicaid is a needs-based program, funded partially by the state, mostly by the federal government.

Many people mistakenly believe that Medicare, which most seniors in this country over age sixty-five participate in, will cover the cost of their stay in a nursing home.

The stress of caring for a loved one is constant – physical, mental, and emotional. You have to recognize and develop a plan to deal with it. Hope for the best, yet plan for the absolute worst case scenario.

(c) Copyright 2005 P.L.Fields LLC
info@medicaidsecrets.info