Are You Prepared For The Costs Of Long-Term Care?
Estate planning is not just about budgeting for a cruise around a different body of water each year or about daydreaming about leaving your fortune to an animal rescue shelter so that it can pay for the care of adorable puppies and kitties. You must also prepare for the parts that are not fun. Who will help you take a bath when you are not healthy enough to bathe yourself without assistance? Who will give you medicine by injection or IV if you need to take these medications more frequently than you visit the doctor? Who will prepare your meals if you cannot prepare them for yourself? Long-term care is the least fun part of your estate plan, but it is one of the most important, because long-term care represents a major expense for retirees. For help strategizing about how to pay for your own long-term care or that of your spouse or parent, contact an Orlando estate planning lawyer.
How Much Does Long-Term Care Cost?
A recent report on the CNBC Personal Finance website gives several estimates of the cost of long-term care over a lifetime, each more sobering than the last. By one estimate, the average cost of long-term care for someone who retired in 2024 will be $122,000. By another estimate, only 15 percent of retirees will pay more than $100,000. The worst part is that most people grossly underestimate the costs of long-term care. Of the people surveyed in the CNBC Personal Finance article, those who have started saving for long term care estimate that it will cost only $25,000, and that they will be able to use the rest of their savings for fun stuff.
When Neither Medicare Nor Private Health Insurance Will Pay
The reason that the costs of long-term care are so burdensome is that, unlike many other medical expenses, you pay for most of it out of pocket. Most private health insurance plans do not include long-term care benefits. Furthermore, Medicare only pays for a fraction of the long-term care services a chronically ill person would need. When it comes to “skilled” nursing services, such as administering injections, Medicare will pay for 100 days only, whether it is in a nursing home or through home health aide services. It does not cover “custodial” services, such as assistance with bathing and feeding.
Therefore, Medicaid is the biggest payor for long-term care services. Some Medicaid nursing-home care beneficiaries have never had retirement savings; some of them were already Medicaid beneficiaries in their younger years. You can even apply for Medicaid if you are already residing in a nursing home, but your savings have run out, and you can no longer afford to pay for it with your own money.
Contact Gierach and Gierach About Long-Term Care Expenses
An estate planning lawyer can help you craft your estate plan so that you can afford to pay for long-term care. Contact Gierach and Gierach, P.A. in Orlando, Florida to discuss your case.
Source:
cnbc.com/2025/05/17/why-long-term-care-costs-can-be-a-huge-problem.html
