We get phone calls every day from family members who are confused and stressed about who pays for Long  Term Care.  Once they realize that Medicare isn’t going to pay, and the Medicare supplement isn’t going to pay for Long Term Care, then the stress level really elevates.  The question is, how to pay for Long Term Care for themselves or their loved one! So here’s the scoop….Medicare will pay for short term rehab for up to 20 days if they meet 3 requirements:  a person is in the hospital for a minimum of 3 midnights, they need some type of therapy (physical or occupational) and they are improving on the therapy.

Once the 20 days has run out and the person still needs therapy and is improving, then their Medicare supplement will potentially pay for another 80 days.  Once the total of 100 days has been met, then the person is deemed to be a Long Term Care patient and  they must pay for their care of out their own pocket at the “private pay” rate which at the current time is running on average of $250 per day.

There is a lot of misleading information about this topic and most people have just enough information to be dangerous.  There are also a lot of professionals and para-professionals who don’t have the skill-set to complete the process from on-set of care expenses to creating the solution, implementing the strategy for “funding” the expense and then ultimately protecting the assets beyond the grave.

I get so aggravated when clients come to us when they’ve already gone to another professional who espouses their planning expertise and yet they haven’t been able to help them with a complete plan, which usually includes obtaining Medi-Cal benefits to help pay for the care.  The hard part is not just coming up with a strategy for becoming Medi-Cal eligible, but actually obtaining the Medi-Cal benefit which means that we have to know all of the Medi-Cal rules and regulations, just like County Eligibility representatives we work with.

After Medi-Cal benefits have been obtained, we also make sure that the home or other assets are not subject to Medi-Cal lien, once the person passes on.   We assist our clients for their entire lives.   So, if you have reviewed the website and done your own research and still don’t feel like you can obtain Medi-Cal yourself, then give us a call or email your questions and we’ll help.  The biggest point I want to make is that it doesn’t matter how much or how little money a person has……there is always a way to qualify for this income tax funded Medi-Cal benefit.   Give us your comments, concerns or experiences.