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What happens when you out live your money? (1 Viewer)

NewlyRetired

NewlyRetired

Footballguy
My aunt was unmarried and had no kids.   She is 89 now and living in a memory care assisted living unit with severe dementia.

I have been managing her finances and paying her bills the last few years.

The care is currently running at $9k a month and could spike to $13,500 a month if she has to move to a skilled nursing facility.

She has long term health care but that will be running out in about a year.

When that happens her last remaining asset is her house which we have been renting out to provide her more revenue.   We will obviously sell the house but even with that large influx of cash, it won't take long before that money is exhausted at the monthly costs I listed above.

What happens once the money is gone?  Are there government run facilities that take in elder patients as part of medicare?

 
I think everything shifts to Medicaid.

God Bless your Aunt.

Check the AARP website

 
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Whatever you do. Remember.  When it comes to Medicaid. They will review any large $$ transfers in the 5 years prior to her Medicaid application. Due to her age it may be too late to try and protect her assets by transferring out of her name.

 
brun said:
Whatever you do. Remember.  When it comes to Medicaid. They will review any large $$ transfers in the 5 years prior to her Medicaid application. Due to her age it may be too late to try and protect her assets by transferring out of her name.
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we decided not to do this. 

Our thought process was that the medicaid facilities are likely to be much worse than where she is living now and we wanted her to live in comfort as long as possible using her own money.  

 
NewlyRetired said:
we decided not to do this. 

Our thought process was that the medicaid facilities are likely to be much worse than where she is living now and we wanted her to live in comfort as long as possible using her own money.  
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I thought your question was, what to do when the money runs out. Not what to do when you still have money. When you still have money (I think the threshold is around $3k in the bank), you're not Medicaid eligible.

 
brun said:
I thought your question was, what to do when the money runs out. Not what to do when you still have money. When you still have money (I think the threshold is around $3k in the bank), you're not Medicaid eligible.
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I was commenting on the moving of her assets so that she might be medicade eligible earlier.  We decided not to move any of her assets to protect them from medicade and instead are just going to use all her money to keep her in as much comfort as possible until it all runs out.

 
brun said:
When you still have money (I think the threshold is around $3k in the bank), you're not Medicaid eligible.
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oh this tidbit is interesting.  This will be tricky to manage.

My Aunt will still be getting pension and social security every month but no where near enough for what care costs per month.   But we are going to have to do the application for medicare before her money runs out I assume since there must be processing time to factor in.

 
NewlyRetired said:
I was commenting on the moving of her assets so that she might be medicade eligible earlier.  We decided not to move any of her assets to protect them from medicade and instead are just going to use all her money to keep her in as much comfort as possible until it all runs out.
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Oh, ok. I understand. 

 
There are no government-owned facilities for this type of thing. Basically what happens is that she'll be placed into the best-available private facility that accepts destitute (Medicaid) patients. The facility will take her SS check and whatever pension distributions that she receives, and Medicaid will pay the rest.

Have you talked to an attorney that specializes in this area? They might be able to suggest some strategies that could prolong her income stream, protect her assets, or improve her quality of life.

 
NewlyRetired said:
oh this tidbit is interesting.  This will be tricky to manage.

My Aunt will still be getting pension and social security every month but no where near enough for what care costs per month.   But we are going to have to do the application for medicare before her money runs out I assume since there must be processing time to factor in.
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Went through this with my mom. 

As I recall there wasn't any option to apply prior to her eligibility. However, the facility she was in was also a Medicaid provider and simply waited until everything was approved. Approval didn't take long once the application was submitted.

It's absolutely critical to have all the financial records for review (5 years). In my mom's case, record gathering wasn't too difficult as my dad had died 40 years before and she had sold the house 20 years before. So it was mostly just bank type records.

Also,  iirc. Her pension and SSI payments went directly to the institution and she received a small amount for incidentals like getting her hair done periodically. I can't remember the exact bank account threshold and monthly amount she could have, but it was very little.

Good luck with this.

 
Joe Summer said:
There are no government-owned facilities for this type of thing. Basically what happens is that she'll be placed into the best-available private facility that accepts destitute (Medicaid) patients. The facility will take her SS check and whatever pension distributions that she receives, and Medicaid will pay the rest.

Have you talked to an attorney that specializes in this area? They might be able to suggest some strategies that could prolong her income stream, protect her assets, or improve her quality of life.
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we have not talked to an attorney.

I don't know how much better her quality of life could be with her severe dementia though.  The place she lives is gorgeous and she is very well treated.

I do know she is going to have a huge step down in quality once she moves to a medicaid facility, but to be honest, I don't think she is going to even notice (and I say this about her condition now which I assume is only going to get worse a few years from now when the money drains).

 
Leroy Hoard said:
Your ungrateful family gets nothing?
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Her will is defined to go to her 3 siblings (one of which is my dad).  There is a chance my dad passes before she does and I don't know if my mom then gets my dads piece or if she is cut out entirely.  I have not read the will close enough.

But it may not matter if there is nothing left any way :)

 
NewlyRetired said:
we have not talked to an attorney.

I don't know how much better her quality of life could be with her severe dementia though.  The place she lives is gorgeous and she is very well treated.

I do know she is going to have a huge step down in quality once she moves to a medicaid facility, but to be honest, I don't think she is going to even notice (and I say this about her condition now which I assume is only going to get worse a few years from now when the money drains).
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Look for a mediocre place that requires 24-36 months of private pay before going on Medicaid. Move her now, not when all she’d be able to get into is a Medicaid only place.

 
Gawain said:
Look for a mediocre place that requires 24-36 months of private pay before going on Medicaid. Move her now, not when all she’d be able to get into is a Medicaid only place.
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thank you, that is an interesting idea.   I have no idea how to search for something like that online.  I guess I will have to call place to place to see what they support.

 
beer 30 said:
Don't know but I plan on finding out :thumbup:
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I plan to either be so mentally gone that I don't find out. Or dead before the quality of life deteriorates too far. 

Living in one of the bad facilities scares me far more than death. 

Our pension will pay enough where that shouldn't be an issue but still. 

 
-OZ- said:
Our pension will pay enough where that shouldn't be an issue but still. 
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My aunt had a good pension when she retired and good long term health care (at the time she got the plan) but both did not come close to keeping up with the expense growth that long term care has experienced these past 25 years.

 
James Daulton said:
Thanks that site looks super helpful.

Long term care cost hasn't really been on my radar for either my parents or in-laws (I figured we'd take them in for the vast majority of their last time) or for me and my wife.

I think though I need to start looking into long term care insurance for me and the wife.
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Getting the policy should be super easy.

Putting in a claim for the policy was one of the most difficult things I ever experienced when I had to do it for my aunt.  Every bad thing you ever heard about concerning insurance companies was true.

It is almost as important to make sure you have a young spokes person for you when the time comes as it is to have the policy itself.  You could not imagine the hoops I had to jump,through before I finally got them to accept her claim.

 
NewlyRetired said:
Getting the policy should be super easy.

Putting in a claim for the policy was one of the most difficult things I ever experienced when I had to do it for my aunt.  Every bad thing you ever heard about concerning insurance companies was true.

It is almost as important to make sure you have a young spokes person for you when the time comes as it is to have the policy itself.  You could not imagine the hoops I had to jump,through before I finally got them to accept her claim.
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You're a real good dude to help your aunt like that.  Thanks for that.   

 
[scooter] said:
Just curious....how did you end up as her caregiver/manager? Were you close to her?

And why didn't she ever marry? Seems kind of sad.
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My dad (her brother) was her power of attorney but my dad himself is very old.  I manage my parents finances so they asked me to take on my Aunt's once it got too hard for my dad about 5 years ago.

I can't speak to why she never married.

 
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