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Care Insurance: Long-Term Health Care Update

How Ohio’s Long-Term Care Insurance Program Can Make Sense For You!

Care Insurance It is now almost 5 years since Ohio’s long-term care partnership program was implemented in order to allow Medicaid participants to protect more of their assets from the Medicaid spend down process. With the rising cost of long-term care and the effect that the recession has had on most individual’s savings, this program is more valuable than ever. A long-term health care insurance policy that meets certain criteria can provide tremendous savings and asset protection against future health care needs by allowing an individual to shelter an amount of assets equal to the amount of coverage under the policy.

Once again, the policy must meet the following criteria:

Must be issued after September 10,2007;
The insured must be a resident of Ohio when coverage first becomes effective;
The policy must be a federally tax qualified plan based on IRS Code;
The policy must meet strict consumer protection standards; and
The policy must include certain protections against inflations.

It was recently estimated that a 65 year old has almost a fifty percent chance of spending some time in a long-term care facility. The average length of stay is 2 ½ … Read More... “Care Insurance: Long-Term Health Care Update”

Divorce As A Medicaid Planning Tool?

Many happily married seniors are facing a previously unthinkable proposition: terminate their marriage or risk losing a majority of their savings to medical expenses, leaving both of them with little savings to enjoy their twilight years, regardless of how well they planned in advance. How can this happen? With medical technology ever improving, allowing us to live longer, most individuals will spend at least a few years in a nursing or retirement facility during our lifetimes. With the baby boomer generation approaching retirement age, more and more of us will fall into this category. How will these long-term care expenses be paid? The choices are private savings, long-term health care insurance, Medicaid or a combination. This is where the dilemma occurs.

For example, consider a devoted husband and wife living financially comfortable in retirement. Husband has a series of strokes and reaches the point physically where wife can no longer care for him. He must move indefinitely into a retirement facility where staff is available to care for him on a full-time basis. How will his care be paid? The couple can pay for his care but at $6,000 per month or more the money can be depleted quickly. The … Read More... “Divorce As A Medicaid Planning Tool?”

How the New Health Care Reform Will Affect Seniors

There remains great concern among seniors about how the new Health Reform Law will affect them, and it will be years before the true effect of the law among this group of citizens is known. However, some aspects of the law are clear, and the hope is that the overall positives will outweigh the negatives when all is said and done.

Among the negatives are broad cuts in projected Medicare payments to insurance plans, hospitals, nursing homes, and other service providers. Although many projections have been made, this is one area in which it is too early to evaluate the size of reductions or its effect. Another negative is that those seniors enrolled in private insurance plans under Medicare Advantage will likely face higher premiums and reduced benefits. Prior to passage of the new law, private insurers were subsidized by the government to manage Medicare programs on the government’s behalf. The government will begin lowering the subsidies to these private plans likely resulting in higher premiums to the insured. Also, although basic Medicare benefits will not be reduced, extras such as eyeglasses may be reduced or eliminated.

There are also significant benefits for seniors in the new health reform law. … Read More... “How the New Health Care Reform Will Affect Seniors”

Divorce And Insurance Policies: What Divorce Attorneys Need To Know To Protect Their Clients

You may not be aware that, years after you have prepared a separation agreement, it may have a direct bearing on whether your clients are covered under their auto or homeowners’ insurance policies in a variety of accident scenarios.

Here’s a typical scenario. Months or years after Mom and Dad are divorced, one of them hands the car keys to “Junior,” who negligently wrecks the car and injures another motorist. One or both parents, thinking that Junior is covered under their auto policy, turn the claim into their insurer, only to be shocked that the insurance company denies the claim.

There are two principal reasons why the claim might be denied: Junior is not a “named insured” or a “resident relative” under the policy. If the denial holds water, Junior and perhaps his parents may be exposed to personal liability, and the distinct prospect of bankruptcy. The question is: Is there anything the divorce attorney can do to ensure or increase the likelihood that minor children will be covered in a future accident under one or both parents’ insurance policies?

This accident scenario has been frequently litigated. Courts examining this issue have focused on what constitutes “residing” with a particular … Read More... “Divorce And Insurance Policies: What Divorce Attorneys Need To Know To Protect Their Clients”

New Strategies To Protecting Assets From Medicaid Through Long Term Health Care Insurance

While not directly on the topic of family law per se, Attorney Joe Balmer, head of the estate planning and probate department at Holzfaster, Cecil, McKnight & Mues, has written an important article on Medicaid planning that warrants reading.

Thanks to Ohio’s Long-term Care Partnership Program, which became effective in September of 2007, it is now possible to protect more of one’s assets from Medicaid spend down through the use of certain long-term health insurance policies. However, certain criteria must be followed and it is important to purchase any such policy from an experienced long-term health care insurance professional.

Long-term health care services include help with activities of daily living, home health care, respite care, hospice care, adult day care, nursing home care and assisted living facility care. Neither Medicare nor most traditional health care insurance plans cover most costs of long-term care. Statistics show that the current life expectancy of a 65 year old is 18 additional years and in 2005, 5 percent of all people 65 years or older resided in a nursing home. Therefore, if affordable, long-term, health care insurance should be a consideration in anyone’s estate planning. Due to Ohio’s Long-term Care Partnership Program, additional consideration … Read More... “New Strategies To Protecting Assets From Medicaid Through Long Term Health Care Insurance”

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