The ugly side...assets.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

We shuffled assets off my parents names years ago... the law was 7 years goin back then, as I recall. With all the stresses of what my mom went thru before she past and the stuff with my dad now, it's good we did it when we did. I cant stress the point enuff..... get assets out of elderly relatives names! I will admit my dad was real hesitant. But my mom understood it and eventually got things moving. 

[Timbbuc2]

I guess I could say I was fortunate to be between jobs when my mom feel ill. She lived in Va. and myself in Alabama. My mom stayed at a rehab center until she could not do the things she needed to do to stay there. My mom always carried insurance even at the age of 92. So we moved here back home , my sister and myself lived and took care of her until the end. We even had our last Thanksgiving with her. Not everyone has the opportunity or options to do what I did and I was proud to do that for mom. Mom said I made the best potato soup.
We didn't take care of her because of monetary things, we didn't think she would get the care she deserves. Now everyone's lives are different and have different circumstances, this was mine.

[captcolour]

My dad had their house in an irrevocable trust for 15 years or more before they went into a nursing home and had to file for medicaid.  Medicaid could not touch the trust.

My friend who is on here went through this prior to us so learned a lot from him.  If you gift say a car within the 5 year look back, they don't go after the car or cash.  They penalize you by delaying to pay the nursing home.  Problem is you end up paying more than the gift.  For example, if the nursing home costs you $10,000/mo, medicaid may have their negotiated rate of $7,000.   If the car is worth $21,000, they divide that by $7,000 and delay paying the nursing home for 3 months.  Problem is you have to pay the street rate of $10,000, so you end up paying $30,000 for the $21,000 car.  Lots of rules/holes like that.

Elder lawyer is a must, but the elder lawyer basically is an agent of medicaid.  Anything you disclose to the elder lawyer they will follow up on.  If you mention your mom's jewelry in the safe deposit box, they will want to know about it.  Be careful what you say.

[HP2]

Estate planning and long term care insurance are realities in today's world.

[72 Challenger]

I can't speak for the USA as I live in Canada but my grandmother rented out an apartment above her personal residence for years. The house was set up as a company. The Government couldn't touch it when considering subsidies towards her end of live care.

She had to pay something called capital gains tax on the property when she died, but that had already been calculated. She still made a fortune.

We considered gifting away money but our lawyer told us that unless she was of sound mind when the gifts were given,(As in the powers of attorney gifted members of the family large sums of money) the tax man would come knocking. He gave us the analogy that if my grandmother was of sound mind, gave everyone a million dollars but died the next day when a telephone pole fell on her the money was not taxable. The previous scenario being an obvious attempt to defraud the tax man.

When my parents were my age and young in their working lives no one was shouting the requirement to think about end of life care. In the past 20 years, especially as the population ages, the cost of end of life care has skyrocketed. My grandmother after subsidies, still paid 4k a month. This was also because even as she was dying, her house, registered as a company and paying her an income, was collecting rent from not only the apartment she always rented but we could now rent out her portion of the house for a much larger sum than the original apartment.

Setting up the house as a company was a VERY smart move. However, my grandparents were immigrants who could barely read and write in English. I am not sure they did this intentionally for this purpose vs just got very VERY lucky. I tend to believe it was pure luck.

[HP_Cuda]

Welcome to the new Corporatocracy! This wouldn't be half the issue it is now today because we have allowed the Corporations like the Pharma industry to dictate the price of meds as well the skyrocketing costs of healthcare. I'd love to be in an industry where we grow by 30%+ a year without any downside at all!

The healthcare industry is broken in the US and I don't see it getting better any time soon. Good advice on here, protect yourself.