Long Term Care Planning

Were you a victim of a terrible car accident recently? Did you have a stroke that has paralyzed part of your body? Has your illness made you in able to handle the everyday functions of a healthy individual? If so, now is the time to plan for your long term care. Long term care is often times necessary for those individuals who have been injured or have otherwise been made ill and are no unable to perform their regular activities without assistance. This would include being unable to bathe, dressing, eating, or using the restroom without the help of another. While some individuals may be able to regain their strength over time and eventually be able to accomplish these tasks on their own again, the majority of people with these serious conditions will remain so for the rest of their lives. Aging individuals are also more likely to need this sort of constant care and protection as opposed to younger people.

Young people too, however, may be in need of this type of long care assistance because of an illness, or an accident that caused severe and possibly permanent injuries. Depending on the situation, there are a variety of different forms of long term care that I available to people including nursing homes, assisted living as well as in home care. What can be more shocking for families to deal with is the fact that this can get extremely pricey, and many families are known to pay an estimated $20,000 per year for their care plan, if they chose to do so at home. This is assuming the individual is only working part time and receiving $16 per hour. There are many individuals who will need around the clock care and if that is the case the price will increase; even more so if the care giver is required to have a more advanced skill set for the medical care.

Believe it or not, nursing homes are getting as high as $50,000 per year, and sometimes even more because they are providing around the clock assistance. Not only will families need that money for one year, in most cases an elderly individual will spend a longer period of time receiving care, the average being around 3 years. In the event you or your loved one are in need of any form of this long term care, it is important to realize that there is no insurance plan or Medicare that will offer their assistance for care. If the injury is temporary, there are some health insurance plans that will give patients a small buffer zone period of coverage for recovery for a home or care, but they are limited in length.

Specifically under Medicare health insurance, helping those who are older than the age of 65, can only offer 100 day care for those who have been injured or made ill after their time in the hospital, and unfortunately after that they no longer can help you. For this very reason, long term care planning is absolutely essential! There is the option to buying insurance for this very purpose that will help people not only with their medical coverage but also with their ability to protect their assets in the event of an accident or even death. By choosing this method, you will be planning for your future as well as protecting those you love from having to come up with painful amounts of money in the future. If you are at all considering these types of options contact an attorney with skill in the area of elder law and probate in order to plan for what will happen with your estate after you pass.