When clients plan to pay for long-term care services, they have certain options, including: private pay, VA benefits, Medicaid, or a combination thereof. As would be expected, private pay is the preferred method, in that cash is king and those with cash are in the catbird's seat. They can choose from 24 hour home health care to assisted living to a single room in a nursing home.
But who has sufficient cash to meet the objective? Very few! For most, unless they purchased a traditional, partnership, or hybrid long-term care policy when they were young (55-75 years of age), independent (no assistance with activities of daily living: eating, bathing, dressing, continence, transferring), and healthy (without a chronic illness), they cannot afford to pay with cash. So what opportunities are available to them?
For those qualified veterans, or the surviving spouse of a qualified veteran, looking for economic assistance to pay for home health care, assisting living, or nursing home care, they should consider the Veterans Aid & Attendance Benefit. In order to be a qualified veteran, they must have served during an active wartime, received a respectable discharge, be permanently and totally disabled, in need of daily aid and attendance from another individual, and have nominal assets and a low monthly income. In that the VA program allows for the concept of "rich today and poor tomorrow," anyone, with the assistance of a seasoned elder law and certified VA attorney, can qualify for the monthly stipend - ranging from $1,056 to $1,949. Even though $1,949 is not enough to pay the full monthly cost of an assisted living stay, it sure helps those with a partial economic need.
Finally, for those individuals faced with a long-term stay in a nursing home facility that is covered by Medicaid, if they have limited assets and income, by either implementing a Gifting/Medicaid Compliant Annuity Plan or spending down their countable resources to $2,000, they can qualify for monthly Medicaid benefits - which are sufficient to meet all of their long-term care needs.
