It now costs more than $400 a day to stay in a semi-private room in a nursing home in the Metropolitan New York area. The cost of nursing home care in the state of New York is rising at a fast pace. It is estimated that in ten years the rates for a semi-private room in a nursing home will be in excess of $600 a day.
High Cost of Nursing Home Care
An annual stay in a nursing home in a semi-private room on Long Island costs approximately $150,000. The cost of living in a one bedroom assisted living facility would be $52,000. Living in your home and having a health care aid for approximately 40 hours a week would cost approximately $50,000. With these high costs and anticipated higher costs in the future, Americans can’t afford to grow old unless they can take care of themselves.
Stay At Home
Although nursing homes try hard to provide comfortable living conditions for their residents, it is strongly recommended that you stay in your home and avoid nursing homes, if at all possible. Men and women feel more comfortable at their residences. Living in ones home provides a sense of security and self worth. Sometimes when men and women move into nursing homes, they become depressed at the loss of their freedom.
Medicaid and Nursing Homes
The large majority of men and women in nursing homes can’t afford to pay ten to twelve thousand dollars a month for their own care. The rely on medicaid to pay for the expenses of staying in a nursing home. Qualifying for medicaid is no longer simple.
Medicaid Planning
I am a member of the National Academy of Elder Law attorneys. I meet with men and women and their children on a regular basis to discuss long term planning. Unfortunately, many families come to me right on the eve of one of their parents requiring nursing home care. They are under the mistaken impression they can immediately transfer all of their assets out of their parents’ names and put one of their parents in a nursing home. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There is a five year look back rule in medicaid. This means the asset has to be completely out of the parents name for a period of five years prior to submitting a medicaid application. If the medicaid application is submitted during this five year period, the person requiring the medicaid benefits is subject to a penalty period in which the individual must self-pay for his or her nursing home care.
Estate Law – Wills & Trusts Lawyer
The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo has been assisting senior Americans regarding wills and trusts issuesfor more than 45 years. We draft wills and trusts. We probate wills. We litigate will contests. We draft special needs trusts for special needs children.
Elliot S. Schlissel is a member of The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He handles elder care planning related to Medicare, Medicaid and nursing home issues. Call us for a free consultation.
