Three Ways to Address Nursing Home Expenses

With a Colorado Springs and Denver CO nursing home now costing over $70,000 annually, we discuss three ways families are handling the catastrophic costs of long term care for their loved ones.

1. Family Resources

Nearly 50% of nursing home residents pay nursing home expenses from their own savings. After they ‘spend down’ their resources, many seniors become eligible for Medicaid, the state-run, need-based program.

2. Medicaid

Medicaid usually enters the lives of the elderly when it comes to paying for long term care. For longer nursing home stays, once personal resources are exhausted, the resident becomes eligible for Medicaid to pay nursing home expenses. Eligibility varies by state, and Medicaid only pays for nursing home care provided in a facility certified by the government to provide service to Medicaid recipients.

3. Long Term Care Insurance

Long term care insurance is a private insurance policy. It is often expensive and many don’t realize that they should have a long term care policy, mistakenly believing that Medicare, the federal program that provides health care to those 65 and older, will pay for the costs. In 2008, Colorado launched its Long Term Care Partnership Program, which is an alliance between the private insurance industry and the state government to help Colorado residents plan for future long-term needs without depleting all of their assets to pay for care. It is designed to encourage and reward Colorado residents for planning ahead for future long term care needs, while saving the state run Medicaid program money.

Long term care needs should be addressed when discussing estate planning needs. Working with an estate planning attorney to plan for nursing home expenses in Colorado Springs and Denver CO before it becomes a necessity allows you more options in addressing long term care.