Burlington elder law attorneys can help you to plan ahead in case you need long-term care. As you get older, the chances that you will end up needing nursing home care increase. You could find yourself in a situation where you need temporary care, or could become permanently unable to handle activities of daily living and may need to move into a nursing home permanently. In either of these situations, you need to find the right care facility and you need to ensure that you can afford to cover the costs. 
Paying for nursing home care is difficult, but Burlington elder law attorneys can assist you in making plans to get costs covered while still protecting as many of your assets as possible. If you want to protect your wealth, it is best if you take action before the time comes when you actually require nursing home care. Call Unsworth LaPlante, PLLC today to find out about the assistance that we can provide to you in helping to ensure you are able to get long term care paid for.
What Does Long-Term Care Cost in Vermont?
Long term care in Vermont is expensive both if you obtain care in a nursing home or if you have home health aides come to your home. The Genworth Cost of Care Survey for Vermont, which provides information on the costs of long term care in the state in 2015, reports that a home health aide would be paid a median annual rate of $50,336 throughout the state of Vermont for a year’s worth of assistance.
For seniors who need nursing home care, the costs are even higher. Throughout Vermont, the median annual rate for nursing home care in a private room is $105,120. For those in South Burlington, cost are even higher, with a median annual rate of $122,275. Obviously, these are significant costs.
How Can You Pay for Long-Term Care?
Getting long term care paid for is a challenge. The costs are very high, so you could end up having to spend your entire life savings very quickly if you do not have coverage through an insurance provider.
Unfortunately, most insurers– including Medicare– will not pay for long term care. Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans only pay for the costs of a nursing home if you need short-term care for a specific medical issue that requires skilled medical services. Outside of these limited situations, you are likely out of luck when it comes to getting Medicare or any private insurance companies to pay your nursing home bills.
If you have purchased long-term care insurance, you might be able to get covered– but premiums for long term care insurance can often be prohibitively high and there may be limitations on what the policy will pay for and under what circumstances. As a result, covering costs with this type of policy isn’t an option for many.
This means you could be forced to pay privately, unless you’re able to qualify for Medicaid. Medicaid is one of the primary sources of nursing home bill payments in Vermont and nationwide. The problem is, unless you’ve made advanced plans to protect assets and qualify for coverage, you might have to spend down your assets before Medicaid will pay for your nursing home. Burlington elder law attorneys at Unsworth LaPlante, PLLC can help you to avoid this or at least protect the maximum value of your assets by assisting you in creating a plan to qualify for needs-based Medicaid coverage.
Getting Help from Burlington Elder Law Attorneys
Burlington elder law attorneys at Unsworth LaPlante, PLLC can help you to make a Medicaid plan so you can get your care costs covered as soon as you need care, without having to spend your assets down first.
To find out more about how an experienced attorney can help you to make plans for care in case of health issues that make living alone impossible, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at (802) 879-7133 or contact us online to talk with an attorney about the Medicaid planning process or other issues related to long-term care. Call today so we can help you to plan for your future and protect your wealth.
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