Indianapolis Medicaid lawyers work hard to help ensure every senior is able to afford the costs of care that he needs as age and illness impact his health. Unfortunately, many people believe that they will not need to worry about the costs of care during their golden years because they erroneously assume Medicare will cover everything they need. The reality is that Medicare is not nearly as comprehensive of a program as people think it is, and seniors could still be left with very substantial out-of-pocket costs even when they are covered by Medicare after aged 65. 
You don’t want to struggle financially to afford the costs of essential care as you get older, nor do you want to find yourself in a situation where you are forced to spend all of the wealth you worked so hard to acquire on care and you cannot leave a legacy for your loved ones. Frank & Kraft will help you to determine what you can do to save for care and can assist you in qualifying for Medicaid to cover high costs while protecting your wealth, so give us a call as soon as possible to address your care needs as a senior.
How Much Will Seniors Need to Pay for Medical Care?
Medicare provides hospital and basic healthcare coverage, but has many exclusions including one big exclusion that has a major impact for senior citizens. Medicare will not pay for custodial care in a nursing home, which is the kind of care that most seniors end up requiring. While Medicare covers skilled nursing services for a limited duration, it doesn’t pay anything if a senior needs nursing home care because he simply cannot handle living alone and doing basic activities of daily living independently any more.
While nursing home care is the biggest expense not covered by Medicare, there are also co-insurance costs and co-pays for most services, premiums to be paid, and costs for a Medigap policy if you want additional insurance beyond the basics offered through the government. Between coverage exclusions, especially those related to prescription drugs, seniors who rely on Medicare could find themselves ending up paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs.
In fact, Employee Benefit Research Institute recently conducted a study to determine the amount seniors would need to save to have a reasonable chance of covering all of their care costs during retirement. According to EBRI, a 65-year-old man would need a total of $72,000 in savings and a 65-year-old woman would need a total of $93,000 in savings just for healthcare expenditures alone if those seniors wanted to have a 50 percent chance of covering healthcare expenditures during their retirement years.
For seniors who want to have a 90 percent chance of being able to pay for healthcare costs during retirement, the increased money saved would need to be very substantial. A 65-year-old man would need $127,000 and a 65-year-old woman would need $143,000 just to have a 90 percent chance of being able to pay for medical care.
These calculations were based on paying for a Medigap policy, paying premiums, and incurring healthcare expenses during the course of retirement so funds would not be needed all at once. They do not take into account costs of nursing home care but are focused on costs of other types of care that seniors may need, including prescription medications that older people often come to rely on. Obviously, affording these costs would be very difficult for many people who do not have this much money saved for their health needs.
Getting Help from Indianapolis Medicaid Lawyers
Frank & Kraft provides assistance using tax-advantaged accounts like IRAs, 401(k)s, and health savings accounts so you can save for a comfortable retirement and put aside money to cover your medical care costs. Our legal team will also work with you to make certain you can qualify for means-tested Medicaid benefits if you need nursing home care or other very costly care as a senior that you cannot afford.
If you have not made a Medicaid plan and do not get assistance with crisis planning when costly care is needed, you could lose the chance to leave a legacy simply because you got sick. Don’t let this happen to you. To find out more about the ways in which our legal team can help you, join us for a free seminar. You can also give us a call at 317-684-1100 or contact us online to get personalized advice from Indianapolis Medicaid attorneys with experience. Give us a call today to get your plans in place before it is too late.
Paul A. Kraft, Estate Planning Attorney
Mr. Kraft assists clients primarily in the areas of estate planning and administration, Medicaid planning, federal and state taxation, real estate and corporate law, bringing the added perspective of an accounting background to his work.
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