Your Inside Look at Arizona’s Health Care Community
Posted in Asset Protection on May 13th, 2009
One of the more common mistakes people make when it comes to long-term healthcare is waiting too long before making any plans or preparations. This can cause problems if the person applies for a benefit program such as Medicaid/ALTCS. Making advance preparations can prevent these problems.
You should take steps to plan for long-term healthcare if [...]
Posted in ALTCS, Asset Protection on Jan 16th, 2009
Many people in need of long-term care have questions about long-term care insurance:
What will my long-term care insurance policy cover?
How do I purchase long-term care insurance?
When is the best time to purchase long-term care insurance?
The dilemma here is that long-term care insurance is unlikely to provide a solution in the event of a crisis. However, [...]
Posted in ALTCS, Asset Protection, Family & Caregiver, Hospice, Probate & Estate Planning, Veterans on Nov 21st, 2008
I was recently introduced to a great resource for anyone dealing with end of life issues and just planning ahead. Hospice of Arizona hosts a weekly radio show on Mondays at 3pm. Tune in to 1100AM KFNX to listen to Marsha Hall and Judy Peters as they host, “We’re There for You.” For those who [...]
Posted in ALTCS, Asset Protection on Nov 13th, 2008
Did you know an ALTCS application can stay in a “pending” status while a Miller/Income-Only Trust is being set up? ALTCS is supposed to notify the applicant that a trust is needed and then give adequate time to set it up. ALTCS is not supposed to deny the application.
If you are told by ALTCS that you will need to withdraw [...]
Posted in ALTCS, Asset Protection, Family & Caregiver on Oct 8th, 2008
Long term care insurance (LTCi) is a wonderful option for those who can afford it, or have purchased it early. LTCi is an effective way to pay for long term care – if the daily rate it pays out covers all of your costs. But what happens when you have insurance that pays only a portion of the daily [...]
Posted in ALTCS, Asset Protection, Social Workers on Sep 8th, 2008
When applying for ALTCS benefits, applicants are often told they need to “spend down” before they will be considered eligible. What does this mean? For a single applicant, their assets must be below $2,000 to be eligible. For the married applicant, the rules are very different but the spend down could be as much as [...]
Posted in ALTCS, Asset Protection, Probate & Estate Planning on Sep 5th, 2008
In the past twelve months, the housing market seems to have slowed to a grinding halt. This has caused more concerns than normal for clients in need of long-term care. With assets and pensions funds diminishing with the falling market and houses not selling, more and more clients are in need of turning to Medicaid/ALTCS [...]
Posted in ALTCS, Asset Protection, Social Workers on Jul 21st, 2008
I am a firm believer that our long-term care system needs to be set up in a way so individuals who are maneuvering through the system for the first time are not overwhelmed or given bad information, thus making their journey throught the system more difficult. Unfortunately, this is not always the case with the ALTCS program. Last [...]
Posted in ALTCS, Asset Protection, Social Workers on Jun 25th, 2008
As a Social Worker, I know what qualities I need to possess. I need to advocate for, educate, and assist my client, resident, patient, or consumer. Not only are these qualities necessary, they are constantly tested, changed, and improved so I can be the “go-to” person. If I think back, I can remember exactly the [...]
Posted in ALTCS, Asset Protection on Jun 2nd, 2008
Did you know that when an ALTCS application is submitted directly to ALTCS, applicants are denied 73% of the time? We think three things add to this denial rate:
Improper education prior to submitting an application
Bad information from many different sources during the application process
Hesitation on the part of the applicant due to misunderstanding of process
At JacksonWhite Elder Law, [...]