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Planning in Advance for the Long Term Care of a Loved One

Planning in Advance for the Long Term Care of a Loved One

  • March 11, 2021

Attorney Justin Randall discusses planning for the Long Term Care of a loved one before it's an emergency on Local 5 Live.

Millaine Wells: Finding and financing long term care for a loved one shouldn't be a split-second decision.

Lisa Malak: No, so, how do you get the ball rolling on planning attorney Justin Randall joins us now. From Hooper law office. Good morning, Justin.

Justin Randall: Good morning.

Indicators that Care May be Needed

Lisa Malak: Let's start with the clues that care may be needed. How do you start that conversation when it does happen?

Justin Randall: There's a lot of signs that can come up in somebody's life to sort of tell their family members that maybe it's time to start thinking about care. These can be physical things, things like they’re not able to get around as easily as they used to be or do, do chores as easily as they used to be, or potentially. It’s mental things as well, they're forgetting to take medication or forgetting other things as well. And that's usually an indicator to family members that it's time to start having that conversation about care.

Selecting Appropriate Care


Millaine Wells: So what challenges are involved in finding suitable care for loved ones? And what can families do to make sure they're selecting appropriate care?

Justin Randall: The hardest part, I think, for family members is, there are now so many options, it can be difficult to know exactly what is the right option for a loved one. A lot of people want to receive care at home as long as possible. But that's not always the best option for people. Thankfully, there are a lot of organizations out there where their sole job is to help these families find the right facilities for their loved ones. And also work with them to determine what cost-wise is best in their budget as well.

Affording Care


Lisa Malak: Well, let's talk costs because that- they vary a lot, right? So what can families do now to make sure their loved ones can afford the care?

Justin Randall: Yeah, so the first thing we always recommend is, depending on someone's age, of course, is to start looking at long term care insurance if they haven't. Long Term Care Insurance is an insurance product that, you know, is specifically designed to help someone pay for a stay at a, you know, assisted living facility or a long term care facility like a skilled nursing facility. And it's, you know, helps pay through a lot of private pay requirements that these facilities have, basically, you have to pay us out of pocket before, we'll accept you here on Medicaid. And so that's the first thing we recommend. But that's also not an option for everybody due to their preexisting conditions, or potentially their age or their budget. So, there are legal strategies we can use through legal planning and estate planning to help families set aside a certain amount of money so that they don't have to spend down through everything and they have something there to supplement their care so that they get the care that they need and deserve.

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