Medicaid & Asset Protection

Haddon Heights and Lawrenceville Medicaid Planning and Asset Protection Attorneys

One of the most common fears of senior citizens today is that their entire life savings will be wiped out to pay for assisted-living or nursing home care. Some of us do not like to think about needing nursing home care, but the fact is that nearly half of us will require some long-term care during our lifetimes. When the economic reality of assisted-living and nursing home costs hits home, the lawyers at Sharp Bratton in Haddon Heights and Lawrenceville can help. By using our planning method, The Sharper Wealth Protection Solution™, we are able to fully analyze your asset protection needs and create a comprehensive plan to address your concerns.

Typically, there are five ways to pay for assisted-living and nursing home care:

• Private pay
• Long-term care insurance
• Medicare
• Veteran's benefits
• Medicaid

Few senior citizens have long-term care insurance or qualify for Veteran's benefits. Furthermore, Medicare will only cover a small portion of nursing home expenses and will do so for a short time. For example, to be eligible for Medicare, you must:

• Be in the hospital for a period of at least three days for a condition covered by Medicare
• Enter a nursing home for the same reason or condition for which you were hospitalized and within 30 days after being discharged
• Receive skilled care in the nursing home

If Medicare coverage is available, it may pay the first 20 days in full. From day 21 through 100, there is a co-payment by the patient per day of $121.50. After day 100, there is no more Medicare coverage. The patient may not be entitled to the full 100 days. This is determined on a case by case basis.

You can privately pay for your care or that of a loved one for as long as your funds last, and many do just that. However, for all but the wealthiest of us, our life savings would vanish quickly. At $8,000 to $10,000 per month, the cost of nursing home care can rapidly deplete the life savings of nearly all middle-class families.

Paying for assisted-living and nursing home care through Medicaid

For those who qualify, Medicaid can pay the cost of long-term care. Most senior citizens have heard of public benefit programs such as Medicaid and some have information as to the rules of eligibility and transfer of assets. Those rules are very complex and intricate. A new law passed in 2006 called the Deficit Reduction Act has affected the Medicaid and asset-protection planning options that were previously available. At Sharp Bratton, our attorneys pride ourselves both in studying the newest strategies that are developed and in implementing them on your behalf.

Our lawyers are able to help guide individuals into New Jersey programs that provide Medicaid benefits at home, including Community Care Program for the
Elderly and Disabled (CCPED), Jersey Assistance for Community Caregiving (JACC), and Caregiver Assistance Program (CAP).

Representing the elderly and their families

Our lawyers offer an extensive range of elder law services related to asset-protection planning, Medicaid and public-benefit planning, hospital-discharge planning, nursing home admission planning, home-care planning, disability planning, and the preparation and filing of Medicaid applications. We work with our clients in an effort to truly understand their objectives and accomplish their goals, thereby enabling us to develop plans that achieve the highest level of health care and protection of assets for maximum client benefit.

Our attorneys will also examine various techniques to preserve the family homestead. When we represent a married couple, our goal is to ensure the highest quality of life for the spouse who needs care, and actively seek to protect the community spouse from becoming impoverished.

Many of our clients have two parents who are sick. First of all, our lawyers will look out for the best interests of the parents. We want to ensure that senior citizens receive the best care possible. However, we have found that most parents would never want to be a burden to their children, and they also don’t want their hard-earned assets to go be spent on long-term care without examining all the options available.

One way to begin a conversation with your parents about Medicaid-planning and asset protection is to attend one of our seminars or send away for one of our brochures. You can learn more about our elder law services by visiting our Elder Law Information Center.

For more information or to schedule a consultation, contact a New Jersey Medicaid-planning and asset protection lawyer at Sharp Bratton in Haddon Heights or Lawrenceville.