Today is the day.
5 years ago today I bought my grandmother's house from her in an attempt to liquidate her assets so that we could eventually put her on MassHealth and get the support that is needed to help take care of her here at home. That was her and my grandfather's wish. No nursing homes.
Well, and I don't know how many out there know this stuff, but if your parent or grandparent owns a home and you want to put that parent or grandparent into a nursing home, the reality is the nursing home will demand payment and that usually means selling the house, even if someone is already living in it. They will make you liquidate every asset in that person's name before putting them on Medicaid to pay for it. Nursing homes run about $300 a day on average, more if your loved one has Alzheimer's or dementia, you do the math.
The assets they wroked a lifetime to accrue will disappear very quickly. For that reason, once a parent or grandparent gets to a certain age, maybe 70-75, sell down and hide their assets! Go see an attorney that specializes in Elder Law and do what you can. There's all sorts of things you can do.
But the biggie is the selling of the real estate. Currently, the law states that there is a 5 year waiting period before the real estate can effectively be permanently transferred into another person's name so as to prevent instant sales of property to hide assets. For instance, if I had put my grandmother on MassHealth or in a nursing home anytime in the last 5 years, the nursing home and government could have demanded the sale of the house for reimbursement of the costs created during that 5 year period.
Because of this, my grandmother didn't qualify for MassHealth and hence didn't qualify for a lot of the Medicaid or Medicare sponsored in house programs that assist in taking care of the elderly at home rather than in a long term care facility. The last 5 years have been a nightmare. it's been basically my wife and I doing everything for my grandmother as her dementia got worse and worse and she became incontinent, mentally unaware of who she is or where she is, and broke her hips due to wandering and walking when she shouldn't have been.
But five years is up today and I have someone coming later today to sign her up for a program that is going to get me an everyday nurse's aide coming to the house to bathe her, 3 hours of baby sitting a day, out of home adult day care, MassHealth so that we can stop paying for her supplemental insurance(almost $2000 a year), and a host of other stuff.
Take my advice, if you have loved ones up there in age, talk to them and consult an Elder Law attorney. Get their affairs in order. get their medical proxy done, their power of attorney done, their will done, a living will done, Do Not Resuscitate and Do Not Intabate orders in place if so desired, sell off their assets and get their funeral plans set and purchased now as the price for those things are only going to go up.
