Nursing Home Planning

The Statistics:

The statistics are staggering for older Pennsylvanians.  According to 2005 U.S. Census estimates, Pennsylvania has almost 2 million citizens over age 65.  Pennsylvania ranks 3rd in the US by percentage of population age 65 and older, and 1 in 5 Pennsylvanians are 60 or older.

The PA Department of Health reports that Pennsylvania has approximately 730 nursing homes with 90,000 beds.

Nationally, the average annual cost for a private room in a nursing home is $74,806, and the average annual cost for a private room in Pennsylvania nursing home is $77,646 (Genworth Financial 2007 Cost of Care Survey).

The Dilemma:

How would you pay for nursing home care?

Short Term Placement:

The typical short term placement is where the older adult is admitted to a nursing home for rehabilitation or therapy with a plan to return to the community.

Short term placements are generally not financially devasting to the older adult for many reasons.  First, the cost of the care is limited by the amount of time the older adult will be in the nursing home.  Second, Medicare and supplement insurance may cover most of the nursing home costs of this short term care.

The family of an older adult who will need short term placement is well advised to get legal advice from an elder law attorney.  The family should make sure that the admission will qualify for Medicare benefits.  The family should review the supplement insurance to see if it pays the skilled nursing facility copay.  Finally, the family should consider their options if the short term placement turns into a long term placement.

Long Term Placement:

Long term placement is where the older adult is admitted to the nursing home with no meaningful plan for discharge back to the community.  At an average cost of $7,000 per month, how will the older adult pay for several months of nursing home care?

Protecting the Spouse at Home:

If the older adult is admitted to the nursing home for long term placement, and his or she has a spouse that is still at home, how can the older adult protect the assets, income and home for the spouse at home and still pay their nursing home bill?

Planning Options:

Planning options exist for older adults who need nursing home care.  Whether that care is short term or long term.  Whether the older adult wants to protect his home, or protect his spouse.

Our office works with older adults and their families when there is a nursing home placement.  We collect asset and income information.  We help determine what benefits are available to help pay for the care.  We then work with the family to put a plan into place to protect as much of their assets and income as possible, and still qualify for the important public benefits.

The earlier you do your planning, the more options are available to protect the assets.  However, it is not too late to plan once your loved one has been admitted to the nursing home.