Is it true that if you place a parent in a nursing home that the state will have access to all their assets? If so, what are the kids rights as my mom has worked hard all of her life for what she has acquired? And it baffles us as to how this is possible.
Without any fanfare or announcement, it’s all changed. Parents are now supposed to save for their own care as they age, and this might be for 30 years after retirement. Care is very very expensive, partly because it’s usually run as a profitable business. Parents have to pay for care by spending their assets down to about $2000, and then can apply for government ‘free’ care on Medicaid. If parents give money away so that they can claim Medicaid sooner, there is ‘look back’ for about 5 years. The people who got the ‘gifts’ are forced to cough up, or family are forced to care in the home without help.
Of course, the details are complicated, but that’s basically the way it is now. It’s a shock to a lot of people. Many old people wish that they’d spent more in early retirement, to have a good time, instead of saving it up to pay to the government. You have the sympathy of many of our posters. Best wishes in finding your way around this ‘Brave New World’, Margaret.
My mom (born in 1923) supported her widowed mom with her earnings until she married in 1949. (My mom started working at the age of 17;do the math).
My parents needed to provide monetary support for neices whose mom died if TB in 1945; my dad's parents who had cancer and died in '60 and '62) and my gma who needed support due to her widowed state and after she fell and became disabled in 1965.
This idea that what folks have saved gets passed on to the next gerenation is a myth. Those monies are there for their care.
Your Mom has worked hard to accumulate the assets that will care for HER in her old age, in her times of need.
The STATE will provide for your Mom when all of her assets are gone. She will then apply for medicaid through a program funded by the taxpayer of both Federal Gov and State Gov. That occurs when she has spend ALL of her savings and income, but still is alive.
Your Mom didn't work all this time so that she could leave money for her children after she dies. It is up to her children to work for their own money, for their own children while they are being raised, for their own old age.
Do you want the STATE to pay for your Mom when she has her own funds???? By the State I mean do you want me to pay for your Mom when she has her own money, through my taxes? Do you want me to pay for her vacations as well?
The nursing home is very very expensive. It will likely take more money than mom was able to accumulate in an entire lifetime to support Mom for some years in care.
Might I ask you who you think should pay for your Mom's care if she indeed has her own assets? I would be interested in hearing.
It amazes me how many people feel elder care should be “free” it is as if they feel SNF and the staff should not be paid for their work. Do you work for free at your current job? Why do you feel your mother should not have to pay her way?