Q. My husband may need to go into a nursing home soon, and I fear that the high cost of nursing care will rapidly deplete our savings. Since we do have some savings, would he be ineligible for Medi-Cal? A. Not necessarily, and this comes as a surprise to most couples. Under a law passed… Read More »
Posts Tagged: Medi-Cal
Medi-Cal’s Plan To Ensure the Healthy Spouse Has Enough Income: the MMMNA
Q. My husband may need to go into a nursing home soon and I am looking into a Medi-Cal subsidy to help with the cost. In your recent post you wrote that Medi-Cal permits the well spouse to retain up to $115,920 in savings as a kind of safety net, and even more with planning…. Read More »
Must We Cash in Our IRA’s to Qualify for Nursing Home Medi-Cal?
Q. My wife may soon need nursing care and I will need to apply for a Medi-Cal subsidy to help with the cost. Our incomes are modest and, aside from our home, most of our savings is in the form of our IRA’s. A friend thought I would have to cash them out and “spend… Read More »
Adults Under Age 65 Now Eligible for Medi-Cal Without Asset or Disability Test
Q. My wife and I are both age 60, in good health and have very modest incomes. We are not yet eligible for MediCare. In the past, we were told that we were not eligible for Medi-Cal because we have some savings and because we are not disabled. Has any of this changed under the… Read More »
Medi-Cal Myths Uncovered
Q. In talking with friends, my wife and I discovered that there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about how the Medi-Cal program works if one needs help with the high cost of nursing home care. I wonder if you would clarify matters. A. I have likewise discovered a great deal of misunderstanding, even… Read More »
Preserving Emotional Well-Being When Choosing a Long-Term Care Living Situation for Your Loved One
Choosing a long-term care living arrangement is one of the most difficult challenges faced by aging adults and their loved ones. Most families try to avoid the nursing home option to the very end, believing that assisted living or small residential care homes provide a better quality of life. But this may not necessarily be… Read More »
News Flash! California Approves Medi-Cal for Same-Sex Couples and Registered Domestic Partners
In what may be the first state in the nation to do so, California has just approved Medi-Cal benefits for same-sex couples and Registered Domestic Partners ( “RDP’s”). Acting at the invitation of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) and pursuant to state Assembly Bill 641 (Feuer), the California Department Healthcare Services… Read More »
Personal Care Contracts: The Hidden Solution to the Elder Care Dilemma
Caring for an aging relative is difficult—and often underappreciated—work. Many people who serve as caregivers often feel as if they have two jobs—their full-time day job at the office and the part-to-full-time job of caregiver at home. As their parents age and decline, most of these caregivers end up not only giving up more and… Read More »
Need Help For Nursing Home Costs?
If a family member needs care in a nursing home, you may be surprised by the cost. In our community, the cost of placement even for routine custodial care averages approximately $7,500 per month for a semi-private room and approximately $8,500 per month for a private room. Most families cannot afford this expense without impoverishing the at-home… Read More »
Should A Bank Help You Care for Your Elderly Parents?
The influential Baby Boomer generation is aging, which means more and more of them are taking on the responsibility of caring for their elderly parents, and the Boomers are beginning to face up to the fact that they will need caregiving themselves in the not-so-distant future. Large banks are not immune to this trend—and the… Read More »