Can I Get Long-Term Care At Home?
By Barry Zimmer on August 15th, 2017 in Long-Term Care
A Cincinnati Medicaid attorney provides help to people who need to make sure they can get care as a senior or in case of an illness or an injury. As you get older, the chance that you will need some kind of long term care increases dramatically. In fact, as the Wall Street Journal reports, more than 7 in 10 people who have reached age 65 are going to require some kind of long term care or nursing home care, often for a long time.
If you are like many people, you do not want to live in a nursing home, even if you develop medical needs that require monitoring and even if you are no longer able to live by yourself as a result of health issues. One possible option that you may be interested in as an alternative to long term care is home healthcare provided in your own home.
While getting long term care at home can definitely be an option, it is important that you work with a Cincinnati Medicaid attorney in advance of the time that you need care so you can maximize your chances of being able to get this kind of care when you need it.
Getting Long-Term Care at Home
There are a few different options available for someone who is in need of long term care and who does not want to move into a nursing home or other institutional environment in order to get the necessary care. The right option is going to depend upon the specifics of the care that you actually require.
If you simply need basic help with activities of daily living, like cooking a meal and dressing yourself and getting a shower, you may be able to simply hire a home healthcare aide. A home health aide may have limited training and few if any medical skills, but a person in this position can help with basic routine activities that you simply are no longer able to do on your own.
If you require more services from a skilled professional, then you may need to hire someone with medical training such as a nurse who can come to your home and provide you with the appropriate level of care. Obviously, this will be much more costly because a skilled nurse can charge far more for services provided at home than someone who has no medical background but who just provides basic assistance with life activities.
Unfortunately, you may have limited options to pay for any of the different kinds of care that you require. Medicare only covers long term care services under very limited circumstances and for a very limited duration. Private insurance policies are also very restrictive in when they provide coverage for any kind of long term care and the kind of coverage they will provide. Medicaid will pay for care under more circumstances and on a more long-term basis but you will need to qualify for Medicaid.
Not only does Medicaid have specific requirements about what your health status must be to get long term care, but Medicaid also limits your ability to get care paid for if you have too many financial resources of your own. In other words, if you have money and property, Medicaid is not going to pay for your care even if you would otherwise qualify on the basis of your functional limitations and health circumstances.
Because Medicaid imposes restrictions based on your assets, you may end up being forced to pay out-of-pocket for long term care in your home until you impoverish yourself. However, it is possible to avoid this by working with a Medicaid planning lawyer to take steps to protect your assets. You can be proactive in making sure that the wealth you own will not count as a resource when you qualify for Medicaid so you can pass your money and property down to the next generation instead of using up all you have worked for by paying for costly care services.
Getting Help from A Cincinnati Medicaid Attorney
A Cincinnati Medicaid attorney at Zimmer Law Firm can provide the help that you need to make smart choices about how to get long term care that you need and how to pay for it. To find out more about the assistance that we can provide to you in your efforts to get long term care and to ensure Medicaid will cover it when you need it, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 513.721.1513 any time for help creating your personalized plan for getting the care you require.