The aging process demands that you make a number of decisions about your future that are extremely important. While many think of taking legal steps to protect your future as Estate Planning, there is quite a bit more to the process. What medical insurance will you have? Can you afford to remain in your home? Will you have enough money to support yourself during retirement? Who will make decisions for you if you become incapacitated and unable to make your own decisions? And, perhaps most importantly, how will you pay for Long-Term Care if it becomes necessary?
Whether you are at an age where you should consider these issues for yourself or not, your parents may be confronting these very issues. All too often, families fail to have difficult but necessary conversations about how aging parents want to be cared for, how far their assets with stretch in paying for Long-Term Care, and whether they will be eligible for Medicaid coverage. If you take advantage of the chance to talk openly about these issues, however, you can create a plan on which everyone agrees that will make it much more manageable when the time for Long-Term Care arrives. For instance, if a parent refuses to consider the possibility of living in a nursing home, you need to be able to offer him or her some alternatives in the event that he or she needs Long-Term Care. There are many options and levels of care available, but most people don’t even know that these alternatives exist. By having this conversation with your parents early on, you can help them decide what arrangements for Long-Term Care would be best for them, and how you can finance the cost of the desired care.
When you or a family member suffers from a mental or physical condition that necessitates Long-Term Care, you already should have comprehensive plans in place to deal with that situation. Call Elder Law Group PLLC today at 509.468.0551, or contact us online at www.elderlawgroupwa.com to schedule a time to meet with one of our Washington Long-Term Care planning attorneys, and see how we can help.
