When you are looking for a lawyer for any reason, you should consider areas of specialization. If you think about it, the legal field is quite vast. It would be impossible for any one individual to focus on everything at once. Therefore, lawyers typically have specialties. With this in mind, let’s look at elder care attorneys.
Addressing the Concerns of Senior Citizens
An elder care attorney is focused on concerns that are specifically relevant to senior citizens. Long-term care is the most pressing concern.
Many people go through life assuming that they will have little to no monetary worries when it comes to health care during the latter portion of their lives. They have paid into the Medicare program for decades, so they will be qualified for coverage at the age of 65.
Medicare will certainly be of assistance. However, there are out-of-pocket expenses that you should be aware of as you are budgeting for your retirement years. We will cover these costs in detail in a different post.
Perhaps surprisingly, Medicare does not cover long-term care at all.
Long-term care is extremely expensive. When you find out just how expensive it is, you may suddenly get quite concerned. This is something that compels many people to seek advice from elder care attorneys.
If you must reside in a nursing home or assisted living community anywhere in the country it is going to be costly. However, long-term care costs in California are higher than the national averages. You may be looking at an expense that exceeds $100,000 for a year in a nursing home in northern California.
It is not entirely unusual for people to spend five years or more receiving nursing home care. The average length of stay is over two years.
As you can see, this whole paradigm creates a lot of questions for senior citizens. They often turn to elder care attorneys for answers.
Medi-Cal Planning
Medi-Cal is a government program that will assist with long-term care costs. The program rules are complex, and it is technically a need-based program.
Therefore, gaining eligibility without losing everything that you own in the process can be challenging. Elder care attorneys understand the needs of seniors, and they understand the Medi-Cal system and the maze of rules and regulations.
If you work with an elder care attorney well before you actually need to enter a nursing home or an assisted living facility, you can set the stage effectively. Should you need to enter a long-term care facility at some point in time, you can ultimately qualify for Medi-Cal to assist with the costs. Meanwhile, a significant store of assets will remain in the family due to the steps that you have taken in advance.
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