Category: Senior Care

Understanding your eligibility for VA medical benefits can be challenging. To start, there’s a complex qualification system that considers service-related factors as well as your income. And, not all eligible veterans receive the same set of benefits. Your benefits package, for example, may range from limited healthcare services with full copayments to a broader set of medical and related services with no copayments at all.

One of the great unknowns for today’s senior is the cost of healthcare. Fidelity estimates that a recently retired senior couple will spend nearly $300,000 on out-of-pocket healthcare expenses — not including the costs of long-term care. That’s an alarming exclusion, given that long-term care is among the priciest and most commonly needed forms of senior healthcare. Statistically speaking, seven of 10 people will require some level of long-term care in their lifetime.

You want the best care possible for your elderly parent, but you don’t have the bandwidth to provide it around the clock. You’re not alone. Hundreds of thousands of families around the U.S. need some form of supplementary care to help with elderly relatives who have physical or cognitive impairments. If your parent isn’t quite ready for full-time nursing home care, adult day care might provide the support you need.

According to research by the National Institute of Health, there are about 1.5 million elderly adults above the age of 65 in nursing homes and 1 million in assisted living facilities. This population group of 65+ individuals is growing rapidly as 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 each day. In fact, the group has grown by 34.2% over the last decade and is expected to continue growing at a rapid pace meaning more and more people will require care in an assisted living or nursing home.

When you start shopping for long-term care insurance, you’ll realize quickly that it’s pricey and complicated. And that can leave you wondering whether this form of coverage is worth it. Unfortunately, there’s no short answer to that question. Long-term care insurance can add value in certain situations, depending on the coverage, as well as your net worth, your age, and your health history. Before you can fully evaluate how long-term health insurance would fit into your life, though, it’s wise to master the basics of how this coverage works.

Medicaid spend down is a financial strategy used to qualify for Medicaid nursing home coverage. In short, “spending down” involves reducing one’s income or assets to the point of eligibility. Medicaid law allows you to do so under some complex guidelines. You would typically pursue a spend down on behalf of a family member who needs pricey, long-term care.