Know Your State & Federal Entitlement Benefits

Article submitted by Peter E. Morse, JD, CRPC, AAMS, Director of Planning at Senior Care Associates. For more information call 801-424-1444.

Should you or your loved one contract: Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis, Stroke, Paralysis or Dementia and you need long term care—the question becomes how does the family afford in home health care or an assisted living facility or a Nursing Home?

Knowing your State and Federal Entitlement Benefit programs are key to the Planning process for Seniors needing long term care. Such programs as Medicare, Social Security Disability Income, Title XIX of the Social Security Act of 1965 (Medicaid) and Veterans Aid & Attendance, can provide financial help with costs associated with long term care.

For example, if you need a Nursing Home for your long term care under Title XIX or Medicaid you may be eligible for $4,600 per month of financial assistance if you qualify. Title XIX or Medicaid is a State & Federal cost shared program that helps finance the costs of long term care while you are in a Nursing Home. What the government tells you is that you will have to spend down your assets before you are eligible for financial assistance under Title XIX. This simply is NOT true. If you structure your assets and income properly you may be eligible for the $4,600 per month—remember this benefit is an Entitlement program that you paid for and funded through your Federal and State taxes.

Another program that is not well known is Veterans Aid & Attendance. This program works as a monthly pension for Veterans and their Spouses or surviving spouses of Veterans that need assistance with activities of daily living. This program pays up to $22,104 annually of tax-free benefits for the cost of at home health care or assisted living costs or nursing home expenses.

Structuring your assets and income for protection and preservation is key to eliminating the financial worries associated with the costs of a long term care illness.

Our mission statement is: “To protect our Seniors after working 30, 40 or 50 years from losing their homes, pensions, investments and savings to the costs of a long term care illness”. Planning is the key!