Video Transcript
Brian Chew: Long-term care, whether it be in-home care, assisted living, or nursing
home, obviously as we get older, that's the biggest concern that we have. How is that
going to be paid for in the case of my family? If my parents don't have a lot of money,
how can we balance that? The estate plan doesn't really address that issue specifically
in the sense of now the estate plan makes sure if your parents or older relatives ever
get to the point where they can no longer make decisions for themselves, whether it be
financial decisions or medical decisions, these doctors make sure somebody can make
those decisions for them. But usually how to pay for that care. That's the biggest issue,
and that is more of a financial planning issue. That's where you're going to want to talk
to a financial planner, talk to them about long-term care insurance, if that's possible, any
other options.
Now, obviously these decisions need to be made ahead of time while somebody's well,
because once somebody's not well, those financial options are not available. And
maybe there are some government options available, there are some options for
veterans who serve during certain wartime periods and/or their spouses, there is some
level of financial aid available for those. It's called the Aid & Attendance Pension
Benefit. And then for those early citizens who don't have much, you can own a home
but don't have much in the way of liquid assets, that's where government programs like
Medi-Cal can kick in. But the Medi-Cal is available typically only to pay for part of your
medical insurance after 65, the part B, the supplemental insurance, or what people
usually think about when it comes to Medi-Cal, paying for a nursing home, and Medi-Cal is the payer of last resort. But one thing that people don't understand is that on Medi-Cal, it covers for a nursing home, which is basically when you need to be monitored by a doctor or nurse 24/7, but a lot of people's care is not needed to be done by a nurse or a doctor, that's called assisted living or sometimes in-home care, and they're currently very limited government resources available to help pay for that type of care.
