Today is Giving Tuesday, a global movement celebrating generosity, observed on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. Many older adults use the holiday season as an opportunity to give away some of their cash or other valuable assets to loved ones or charitable causes. And while these gifts are no-doubt appreciated by their recipients, there are reasons [...]
Saving for your retirement and senior living goals is a lifelong endeavor for many people. Depending on your spending and saving style, you may have your money set aside into designated buckets for each spending objective. Mental accounting is the phenomenon by which we treat money differently based on where the money came from and [...]
For fiscal year 2020, 76.5 million Americans were enrolled in Medicaid, including 6.4 million seniors. Medicaid is the single largest payer for long-term care in this country. In part, that’s because the cost of long-term care can be so exorbitant — averaging $51,600 a year for assisted living and $93,000 for a semi-private nursing home [...]
This is a question I am often asked, and it seems I’ve been getting the question with more frequency lately. Although I’ve written on this topic a few times before, I want to give a concise overview of what you need to know about using your long-term care insurance policy in a CCRC, including some [...]
Last year, 350,000 Americans bought a long-term care insurance (LTCi) policy, and over 7 million people currently maintain a policy. This is a fairly low adoption rate given that there are over 80 million Americans who are age 55+. Recent data from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI) reveals some interesting facts about [...]
Long-term care is generally defined as a range of supportive services needed to meet an individual’s personal care needs over an extended period of time. Often, long-term care is not medical care; instead, it is help with everyday personal tasks, sometimes referred to as activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), although [...]
I was speaking to a group of prospective residents for a new life plan retirement community (also known as a continuing care retirement community, or CCRC) when a question came up about “Medicaid trusts” and how the existence of one could impact a resident of a CCRC. More specifically, I had finished a discussion about [...]
In last week’s blog post, I wrote about 90-year-old oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens and his inspiring attitude about growing older, despite several recent health setbacks. In the article, Pickens suggests being “the eternal optimist who is excited to see what the next decade will bring.” He continues: “I remain excited every day, engaged and thrilled [...]
The phrase “long-term care” refers to a spectrum of care services that people may need — sometimes including skilled nursing/medical care, but often non-medical help with the basic self-care responsibilities of everyday life, also known as activities of daily living (ADLs). This type of long-term care, also called assisted living, may include things like bathing, [...]
In a previous post titled Long Term Care: What Does Medicare Actually Cover?, I described the possible out-of-pocket financial impact someone may face by receiving care in a private-pay skilled nursing facility (SNF) versus a Medicare-certified SNF. In a nutshell, Medicare Part A will cover medically necessary skilled nursing care—for a limited time and limited amount—if certain [...]
