Is anyone else picking up on the Medicaid cuts proposed in the budget?
I know. Everyone thinks that this money goes to folks who haven't worked, saved, etc. But this is the money that pays for a lot of nursing home bills. Medicare only pays for 30 days in the nursing home immediately after hospitalization. When your assets are exhausted, it is Medicaid that takes over.
There is reason to worry about this. My late father-in-law, a retired surgeon with more than $2 million in liquid assets about 12 years ago, had Parkinson's disease. He supported his mother ( who lived to age 96), his wife, and himself for decades. Now, his widow is in a nursing home with diminishing assets. All of this is to say that these circumstances can happen to anyone. No matter how educated or thrifty.
And now the adult kids have young kids and kids in college. Forget saving for their own retirements in the face of soc security cuts. What happens to mama? We can't let her be mistreated. We can't quit work and take care of her ourselves. And the inlaws, like me, feel a burden, too. Should I have to use the assets I inherited from my family for this care? Then, what happens to me in my old age? What about my son's college money?
Moral: Be good to your children and get long term care insurance, no matter what the premiums cost.
I know. Everyone thinks that this money goes to folks who haven't worked, saved, etc. But this is the money that pays for a lot of nursing home bills. Medicare only pays for 30 days in the nursing home immediately after hospitalization. When your assets are exhausted, it is Medicaid that takes over.
There is reason to worry about this. My late father-in-law, a retired surgeon with more than $2 million in liquid assets about 12 years ago, had Parkinson's disease. He supported his mother ( who lived to age 96), his wife, and himself for decades. Now, his widow is in a nursing home with diminishing assets. All of this is to say that these circumstances can happen to anyone. No matter how educated or thrifty.
And now the adult kids have young kids and kids in college. Forget saving for their own retirements in the face of soc security cuts. What happens to mama? We can't let her be mistreated. We can't quit work and take care of her ourselves. And the inlaws, like me, feel a burden, too. Should I have to use the assets I inherited from my family for this care? Then, what happens to me in my old age? What about my son's college money?
Moral: Be good to your children and get long term care insurance, no matter what the premiums cost.
