Patch Blog: Medi-Cal Planning for Seniors; Don't Let it Wait

Elder Care Law is a legal concentration that is defined by the clients served.  Proper legal care includes providing seniors with a variety of planning strategies, which may include Special Needs/Disability Planning, Guardianships, Medicare Planning (Medi-Cal for California residents) and foundational estate planning. In California, the most common of these planning tools is Medi-Cal Planning.

Medi-Cal Planning

There are two types of Medi-Cal Planning: Crisis Planning and Pre-Crisis Planning.  It’s a good idea to plan before a crisis hits, but it’s never too late!

Crisis Planning

Crisis Planning deals with an individual who has either been admitted to a nursing home or is about to be placed in a nursing home and they have been told, or suspect, that they have too much money or too many assets to qualify for Medi-Cal.

If this is you or a loved one, your family is facing nursing home costs which will cost several thousand dollars per month, perhaps in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.  Without proper Medi-Cal planning, usually life-savings are the only source of money to cover these astronomical costs.  Most people’s estate will be depleted in only a few years.  It’s only when you’ve met the financial test for Medi-Cal that the government will step in and cover your nursing home stay.

To add to the difficulties, people receive poor advice about how to qualify for Medi-Cal, often from well-intentioned family and friends.  Following that advice can often have unintended negative consequences.  For instance, if you gift your assets to your kids, you may delay the Medi-Cal qualification process, rather than speed it up.

Unless you work in this field, you’re probably unaware of the ways you can legally preserve the maximum amount of your hard earned assets and income while still qualifying for Medi-Cal benefits in the shortest amount of time, even after a crisis hits.

Pre-Crisis Planning

It is preferable to plan before crisis hits, as there are more planning options available.  Pre-Crisis Planning is for individuals or married couples who are currently healthy but want to plan for the real possibility that someday one or both will become incapacitated and require long-term care.  Pre-Crisis Planning is for those who want to avoid depleting their life savings and hard earned assets.  It’s for those who want to ensure qualification for Medi-Cal so that their estate is left to their loved ones rather than eaten up by the astronomical costs of assisted living.

The truth is that everyone, including you and your loved ones, may very well require assisted living or nursing home care one.  In fact, recent studies suggest that over half of the population presently over 65 years old will find themselves facing this reality, and the costs that come with it.

Unfortunately, skilled care is expensive.  Several thousand dollars a month and potentially over a hundred thousand dollars a year, maybe even more, will eat up your hard-earned savings…money that you probably need, and count on…money for a healthy spouse or money that can be left to family and loved ones.

It's important to develop a comprehensive asset protection plan that contains the right structure in case you or a loved one becomes disabled and unable to make decisions.  Your plan should contemplate a long-term nursing home stay while qualifying the individual for Medi-Cal as quickly as possible, while protecting as much of the assets as possible…legally.

The most important thing in Pre-Crisis Planning is giving you peace of mind.

To learn more about Medi-Cal planning, contact me at: 818-864-6174, Email me at: vanessa@vterzianlaw.com, or visit:  www.vterzianlaw.com.