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Planning to Afford Nursing Home Care in Wisconsin

Planning to Afford Nursing Home Care in Wisconsin

  • February 5, 2022

Most adults over the age of 65 will likely require some form of Long-Term Care during their lifetime. With Long-Term Care costs hovering around $120,000 per year, planning for this expense has become a critically important issue for many families. Justin Randall from Hooper Law Office visited Local 5 Live to discuss planning for Long-Term Care Costs.

Millaine Wells: Do you have big dreams for retirement? What about planning for care during this time?

Lisa Malak: It's an important thing to consider. An attorney, Justin Randall is here with some guidance from Hooper law office. Good morning.

Justin Randall: Morning. 

Lisa Malak: All right, let's talk about what people need to consider when it comes to this topic during retirement.

Justin Randall: Yeah. So, when it comes to planning for long term care, I think a lot of people look at cost first and foremost, which is something to obviously consider, but you also want to look at what types of amenities you might want, if you're looking into a facilities. There's a lot of good organizations out there who can help people find these facilities that fit their needs. I always think of King, the veteran's home has a bowling alley and a pub. I mean, is that the kind of thing that you want at your facility? And it's important to think about those things.

Millaine Wells: So, then how much do people want to budget for this type of care? 

Justin Randall: Yeah, you want to be able to privately pay. And if you can do it for about two years, you have a lot more say and where you are able to stay, a lot of these facilities are requiring that period of time before someone goes on to Medicaid, for example. So if you're able to pay that long, you're able to sort of choose where you want to go.

Lisa Malak: Well, when do programs like Medicaid come in? And how does this help with the cost of care or affect the cost of care? 

Justin Randall: Yeah, so Medicaid comes in after someone is below a certain amount and assets. And that amount is going to vary depending on whether you're single or married, and the types of assets that you have as well, and especially a married situation. So once the person receiving care is below that level of assets, then Medicaid can step in.

Millaine Wells: Okay, how can your team help us plan for that scenario? Because there are people who have accumulated a lot of assets, a lot of land properties in the family, and they maybe want those to go on to a different generation?

Justin Randall: Yeah, really, the best thing I can say is, the sooner somebody does that planning, the better. Medicaid has a five year look back period. So when you're talking about making transfers, or planning around protecting assets, it's important to do that as soon as possible, especially after retirement, I think is a really good kind of bar of entry.

Lisa Malak: Well, it's very confusing, and you're here to help. So tell us a little bit about seminars that you offer. Can we ask you guys questions?

Justin Randall: Absolutely. So we are public seminars, our wills versus trust seminars, we talked a lot about, the difference in wills and trusts. But then the second half of those presentations is focusing on Medicaid and long term care planning in particular, and I stay around for questions as long as they want me before the facility kicks me out.

Lisa Malak: I'm sure you are there til lights out right?


Millaine Wells: And it’s important for people to know that no two family situations are the same. If something worked for your cousin's, it's probably not the same solution for you.

Justin Randall:  No, and one of the most dangerous things that happens is sort of the barbershop advice that somebody received and thinks that it's going to work for everybody or this is what happened in this situation. So that's exactly what I should do.

 


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