By skyforbes 
Growing older is filled with many joys, like welcoming grandchildren to the family and facing life with more wisdom than in younger years, but growing older is also often a frightening concept when it comes to healthcare. Older Americans don’t want to lose their independence, but illnesses and injuries are often inevitable. It’s very important for older Americans to plan early for these medical emergencies to ensure that the most important assets are protected and not used as collateral to pay for medical care.
Medicaid Planning
Medicaid planning is a service offered by elder law attorneys that uses available legal tools to protect your assets while ensuring that you are eligible for Medicaid coverage when it’s time to move into nursing home or assisted living care. Since Medicaid is a needs-based program, certain requirements must be met in order to qualify. If you want to be rest assured that Medicaid will help to pay for your nursing home care, you need to have limited income and few assets. However, if you have worked your entire life to save up and provide your children and grandchildren with financial security, this can be challenging. This is why Medicaid planning offers a way to maintain that nest egg, leave assets to heirs, and still receive Medicaid coverage.
Start Today
Like most things related to your health, procrastination is the worst evil. There are so many reasons to begin your Medicaid planning today, even if you are in perfect health.
First of all, the Medicaid planning process can be long and complex, so you need as much time as possible to complete the process. Your elder law attorney will help you transfer your assets to a trust so that those assets are not counted against you when determining your Medicaid coverage eligibility. It’s important to ensure that the trust is the best type to meet your needs, align with all legal requirements, and guarantee that the right assets are transferred.
Another reason to start immediately? Nursing homes are beyond expensive! Most cost more than $100,000 per year. Upscale assisted living communities often require $200,000 or $300,000 just to enter, then a monthly fee on top of that. If you don’t make a plan to protect your assets, you could be forced to use the life savings you put aside for your children to fund your entry into a nursing home.
Worst yet, most insurance policies don’t cover nursing home care. Even if your insurance policy will pay for a brief nursing home stay during rehabilitation after surgery or an accident, it most likely will not pick up the tab to live in a nursing home long-term. Medicaid is the only form of assistance that will, so you need to arrange your finances to guarantee that coverage.