Covering the long-term care costs for seniors, which include Medicaid coverage, will always be complicated to do in Pennsylvania. It’s very difficult for people to plan their estates on their own without professional legal assistance. Understand the basics of long-term health care and how it affects the planning of a person’s estate.
Be aware of Medicaid estate recovery programs
A person who is receiving long-term health care may want to include these benefits in an estate plan. However, when you think that you’re covered by long-term care Medicaid benefits, you may be confronted by a representative of the Medicaid estate recovery program (MERP). After a recipient’s death, you may be forced to repay the benefits that had been promised for free.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) makes it legal for every state to recover all of the money that was spent on recipients aged 55 or older. The costs of receiving long-term health care for decades may turn out to be a long-term loan.
Managing your probate
As you settle your estate, list all of the debts you owe along with creditors and personal assets. This debt may include long-term Medicaid bills. The state’s Medicaid office may intervene and attempt to claim a large portion of a person’s assets after death. Resolving debts is one of the first and most important components of estate administration.
The complicated costs of estate planning
There is a growing problem in elder law that involves federal government funding. The stress of providing long-term health care to senior citizens is becoming too expensive and complicated to handle. However, countless individuals over the age of 65 are expected to require benefits to survive later in life. The first step is to understand their rights and responsibilities as they plan their estates.