Long term care has now become one of the most common issues for Americans  in retirement. Almost each of us is aware of someone who is presently at a medical care facility or nursing home, yet this is something, which we would personally never want to go through. According to recent studies, approximately 50% of Americans over age 65 will need a nursing home or assisted living facility, at some point in their lives. Long term care costs can wipe out most or all of your assets. It is important to hire an Elder Law attorney to avoid spending down assets to pay for care.

There are a number of ways through which one can pay for nursing some. Those ways are –

• Private pay
• Veterans’ benefits
• Medicaid
• Long term care insurance
• Medicare

Each one of these varies from one another, depending on the person and the choices that he or she makes.

Now, you might be wondering what this Medicaid planning is, and then here is the answer to your concern. In this blog, you are going to get all your questions answered.

Medicaid planning basically refers to the arranging or transferring all the assets of a person, in order to become eligible for Medicaid, a government program that pays nursing home and assisted living costs for recipients. Here, in this post, you will get to know how you can shelter some of your assets along with techniques such as a Medicaid-complaint annuity.  Whenever any person applies for Medicaid or family care assistance, all assets are examined. Some assets may be considered “exempt” while other assets count toward the limit of the institutionalized spouse and/or the limit of the community spouse, assuming there is one. It is important to understand which assets are counted and which assets are not counted.

What’s more, a person cannot just transfer all his or her assets to someone or something else simply to impoverish themselves before he or she applies for Medicaid or family care. Assets gifted are subject to a five-year lookback, and a penalty period will be imposed, during which the individual will not be allowed to receive family care or Medicaid. However, there are legal options that create no penalty period or lookback period. An educated elder law attorney can explain yourspecific legal options based on the exact circumstances of your case.

It’s very important that the elder law attorney counseling you on your options has detailed information on all assets, income, and care-related costs. With that information, we at Elder Law Center of Wisconsin can educate you about your options to legally protect assets, assist you with referrals to professionals that can educate you on suitable places for care and related matters. The details are extraordinarily important in Medicaid planning. Therefore, the advice you get on options is going to be valuable only if you provide specific information on the situation. There is a great deal of misinformation in the public sphere regarding Medicaid planning, including statements such as one has to do planning at least five years before they go into a nursing home, the state can take my house, I need to spend down all of my assets before I can get on Medicaid or family care, etc. All of these statements are not necessarily true if you understand your legal options.

However, this is a very complex area, and you should work with someone who specializes in this area to get proper education and advice on options.