Developing your Medicaid / Long term Care Plan

Planning for long term care costs and chronic illness is getting tougher and more expensive. Florida has been slow to implement sweeping Medicaid eligibility changes enacted by Congress as part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (“DRA 2005”). Based on published proposed administrative rules, the Florida changes are now expected to be effective in September, 2007. Medicaid benefits will still be available in Florida for long term care in skilled nursing facilities, but it will require more preplanning and advanced techniques. Also, the potential penalties for premature, inaccurate or erroneous Medicaid applications, which are sometimes the result of “do-it-yourself” applications, or a facility’s own administrative applications for its existing private-pay patients, can have devastating results for applicants or applicants’ families’ financial conditions. We strongly urge you to seek qualified legal advice in preplanning and applying for long term care benefits through the Florida Medicaid ICP Program, and variations thereon.

You should also consider whether it may be cost effective for you or your family to utilize traditional or hybrid long term care insurance coverage, in order to help plan ahead to defray the cost of a possible future long term chronic illness requiring substantial assistance to you or your family member in the home, in an assisted living facility, or in a skilled nursing facility. These policies require careful scrutiny, and we can refer you to an appropriate insurance advisor to assist you in reviewing these options. Remember, those who plan to fail, fail to plan. Help you and your family by addressing these needs while you are “vertical” (i.e., while you’re still standing and capable to do such planning). “Horizontal” planning (i.e., when you’re flat on your back due to illness or incapacity) is more difficult and expensive in the long run for you and your family, and often less reliable and effective.

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