Many New Yorkers might wish to try to qualify for Medicaid in order to pay for long-term care like a nursing home stay. Doing so will require some carefully planned giving and estate organization in order to be effective. For many other people in the city, this is just not a practical option.
For one, they simply may have too much income or too many assets to qualify for Medicaid. At a certain point, trying to distribute income and assets in order to qualify for Medicaid may not be worth the effort. A person will instead have to explore other long-term care options when planning their estates. After all, over 2 out of 3 of all Americans over 65 will at some point require long-term care.
Although many of these people will be able to rely on their loved ones, others will have to pay for professional assistance. Almost 1 out of 4 people will have pay for at least 2 years of long-term care, with a sizeable number of these people having to spend time in a nursing home. To cover these costs, people may choose to buy long-term care insurance.
People have different options for long-term care insurance, but they should understand their policies well in advance of needing them. For example, a person may want to consider buying a so-called hybrid policy that will pay either for long-term care or serve as life insurance depending on what a person needs.
Purchasing long-term care insurance is just one planning option
People may also have to fund either all or part of their care may also have to look at other legal options for accomplishing this goal. For example, some careful estate management and planning may enable a family to set aside funds for long-term care and reduce their tax liability in the process.
No matter which options a someone chooses, they should remember that planning for long-term care is prudent since most people will incur this sizeable expense at some point.