Most seniors in Tampa Bay will probably require some form of nursing home or long-term care during their elderly years. We understand the range of emotions that seniors and their families encounter when they prepare for this reality.
At Arvanitakis Law Group, we discuss long-term care options and asset protection strategies with our clients. We also develop Medicaid planning strategies that enable our clients to become eligible for government-funded services to cover nursing home and long-term care costs. VA benefits and planning services are also available by our experienced elder law attorneys.
Arvanitakis Law Group, located in Clearwater, Florida, offers elder law services to those throughout the Tampa Bay. As our client, we can provide you with the following elder law services:
- Elder Law
- Long-Term Care Options
- Medicaid Planning
- VA Benefits and Planning
- Nursing Home
- Homestead
- Asset Protection
- Health Care Directives
- Powers of Attorney and Durable Powers of Attorney
- Wills and Living Wills
- Trusts and Living Trusts
Do You Need Help Paying for Nursing Home Care?
When a loved one requires skilled nursing level care, many families face the difficult question of how are they going to pay for the care necessary for an aging parent, spouse, ill child, or significant other. Nursing homes in Florida cost, on average, between $6,000 and $9,000 per month, and some facilities are over $10,000 per month! This is hard to sustain for even the most financially astute and diligent savers!
Despite many years of a person or couple working and saving, families are concerned that there simply won’t be enough money to cover the cost of nursing home care. Florida rules restrict who may qualify for Medicaid’s nursing home benefit. If an individual has income and assets that exceed the Medicaid threshold, there are a series of strategies for these circumstances. This strategy allows an individual to qualify for Florida Nursing Home Medicaid while preserving a substantive amount of their assets.
Call us today at 727-516-0800 or contact us for a consultation.
Five Ways to Pay for a Nursing Home
There are essentially five possible ways that you can pay for the cost of a nursing home in Clearwater or other Tampa Bay cities:
- Rely on Medicare— Medicare may pay for some nursing home care in our area as long as you are receiving rehabilitation or specific skilled services. Medicare will not pay for long-term care or custodial care in a nursing home.
- Use Long-Term Care Insurance – If you are one of the fortunate people to have been able to sign up for long-term care insurance coverage, it will help a substantial amount of the cost of the nursing home.
- Pay With Your Own Funds – This is the method many people are choosing first. This method pays for the cost of a nursing home out of your savings. Unfortunately, few people can afford a long-term stay in a nursing home with a nursing home costing between $8,000 and $10,000 per month in our area.
- Apply for VA Assistance – This type of benefit may be available to someone over 65 years of age or is disabled, who either served in the military or is a surviving spouse of someone who served in the military. A retired military’s VA special pensions can help pay nursing home bills.
- Apply for Medicaid – Medicaid is a federally funded and state-administered program that pays for the cost of a nursing home if a person meets specific asset and income requirements.
Long-Term Care Concerns for Clearwater Residents
For many families, they develop a strategy to transfer assets to adult children or other beneficiaries at least three years before the need for assisted living or nursing home care. A trust is an excellent way to transfer wealth by minimizing or eliminating federal and state of Florida taxes, while still maintaining your control and enjoyment of the funds you have worked so hard to create.
As experienced elder law attorneys, Arvanitakis Law Group provides other types of services to help families:
- Ensure that you qualify for Medicare
- Set up the finances and the terms for assisted living
- Prepare health care directives
- Powers of attorney or durable powers of attorney
Get the Elder Law Help You Need
It is our pleasure to help you, your family, and/or business with any probate and estate planning legal requirements.