A Living Will Details The Health Care That You Want If You End Up On Life Support A living will, also called a health care directive, gives you the power to take control over what medical treatment you do or don’t want administered, in the event that you become unconscious or incapacitated. To learn more about health care directives, watch this short video. A Living Trust (also known as a revocable living trust) is created during an individual’s lifetime where a designated person, the trustee, is given responsibility for managing that individual’s assets for the benefit of the eventual beneficiary. A trust is a legal document that you create during your lifetime. Just like a will, a trust spells out your wishes with regard to your assets, your dependents, and your heirs. A trust can bypass the costly and time-consuming process of probate. This lets your successor trustee (who fills basically the same role as an executor of a will) to carry out your instructions as documented in your trust at your death. Your successor trustee also steps in if you’re unable to manage your financial, healthcare, and legal affairs…Read More
One day you may not be able to make your own medical decisions. That’s why we recommend that you plan ahead. A lot of people are confused about the differences between a living will and a “do-not-resuscitate” order (DNR). While both these documents are advance medical directives, they serve different purposes. A living will is a document that you can use to give instructions about your medical treatment if you become terminally ill or are in a persistent vegetative state and unable to communicate your instructions. The living will states under what conditions life-sustaining treatment should be terminated. If you would like to avoid life-sustaining treatment when it would be hopeless, you need a living will. A living will takes effect only when you are incapacitated and is not set in stone. You can always revoke it at a later date if you wish to do so. Know Your Options When drawing up a living will, you need to consider the various care options and what you would like done. You need to think about whether you want care to extend your life no matter what or only in certain…Read More
Medicare covers preventative care services, including an annual wellness visit. But confusing a wellness visit with a physical could be very expensive. As part of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare beneficiaries receive a free annual wellness visit. At this visit, your doctor, nurse practitioner or physician assistant will generally do the following: Ask you to fill out a health risk assessment questionnaire Update your medical history and current prescriptions Measure your height, weight, blood pressure and body mass index Provide personalized health advice Create a screening schedule for the next 5 to 10 years Screen for cognitive issues You do not have to pay a deductible for this visit. You may also receive other free preventative services, such as a flu shot. The confusion arises when a Medicare beneficiary requests an “annual physical” instead of an “annual wellness visit.” During a physical, a doctor may do other tests that are outside of an annual wellness visit, such as check vital signs, perform lung or abdominal exams, test your reflexes, or order urine and blood samples. These services are not offered for free and Medicare beneficiaries will have to pay co-pays…Read More
Although A Nursing Home Cannot Require A Child To Be Personally Liable For Their Parent’s Nursing Home Bill, There Are Circumstances In Which Children Can End Up Having To Pay This is a major reason why it is important to read any admission agreements carefully before signing. Federal regulations prevent a nursing home from requiring a third party to be personally liable as a condition of admission. However, children of nursing home residents often sign the nursing home admission agreement as the “responsible party.” This is a confusing term and it isn’t always clear from the contract what it means. Typically, The Responsible Party Is Agreeing To Do Everything In His Or Her Power To Make Sure That The Resident Pays The Nursing Home From The Resident’s Funds If the resident runs out of funds, the responsible party may be required to apply for Medicaid on the resident’s behalf. If the responsible party doesn’t follow through on applying for Medicaid or provide the state with all the information needed to determine Medicaid eligibility, the nursing home may sue the responsible party for breach of contract. In addition, if a responsible…Read More
A new report that combines nursing home quality data with a survey of family members ranks the best and worst states for care and paints a picture of how Americans view nursing homes. The website Care.com analyzed Medicare’s nursing home ratings to identify the states with the best and worst overall nursing home quality ratings. Using Medicare’s five-star nursing home rating system, Care.com found that Hawaii nursing homes had the highest overall average ratings (3.93), followed by the District of Columbia (3.89), Florida (3.75), and New Jersey (3.75). The state with the lowest average rating was Texas (2.68), followed by Oklahoma (2.76), Louisiana (2.80), and Kentucky (2.98). Care.com also surveyed 978 people who have family members in a nursing home to determine their impressions about nursing homes. The surveyors found that the family members visited their loved ones in a nursing home an average six times a month, and more than half of those surveyed felt that they did not visit enough. Those who thought they visited enough visited an average of nine times a month. In addition, a little over half felt somewhat to extremely guilty about their loved…Read More
Caring for a sick family member is difficult work, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be unpaid work. There are programs available that allow Medicaid recipients to hire family members as caregivers. All 50 States Have Programs That Provide Pay To Family Caregivers. The Programs Vary By State, But Are Generally Available To Medicaid Recipients, Although There Are Also Some Non-Medicaid-Related Programs Medicaid’s program began as “cash and counseling,” but is now often called “self-directed,” “consumer-directed,” or “participant-directed” care. The first step is to apply for Medicaid through a home-based Medicaid program. Medicaid is available only to low-income seniors, and each state has different eligibility requirements. Medicaid application approval can take months, and there also may be a waiting list to receive benefits under the program. The state Medicaid agency usually conducts an assessment to determine the recipient’s care needs—e.g., how much help the Medicaid recipient needs with activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, eating, and moving. Once the assessment is complete, the state draws up a budget, and the recipient can use the allotted funds to pay for goods or services related to care, including paying a…Read More
Once you or your parents reach senior status, you really can’t afford to put it off any longer. Unfortunately, without proper planning, seniors can lose everything, even if they have family to look after them. Having a will isn’t enough. More and more, the media is highlighting stories of seniors being taken advantage of, and even being targeted by unscrupulous professional guardians. While planning for your incapacity and death can be scary, it’s even scarier to think of all the horrible things that can happen to your family if don’t have the right planning in place. Here are a some of the most common mistakes that seniors make: Mistake #1: Not Creating Advance Medical Directives In your senior years, health care matters become much more relevant and urgent. At this age, you can no longer afford to put off important decisions related to your medical needs. How do you want your medical care handled if you become incapacitated and can’t communicate your wishes? And at the end of life, how do you want your medical care handled? You can address both of these situations with a Designation of Health Care…Read More
