Geezers (It's the Dollar Stupid)

Gold-Eagle.com ^ | 12/10/2004 | Don Stott

[Liberty Valance]

Just put the gold in the coffin and see which distraught family member starts digging first. Has anyone here ever seen the movie "Daddy's dyin' - who's got the will?"

[CindyDawg]

Gramma and grampa used to stay home. I work at a nursing home and believe they are needed in our society for people who can not be cared for at home. However, IMO we are seeing the other side of a 2 income family. Day care for the kiddos are nursing homes for the elderly.

[NYTexan]

" Nothing will be passed on, unless you can keep the tax collector's hands off of it, or the nursing home either. $4,000 or more, a month really eats into a legacy, believe me."

So the author suggests placing the burden of nursing home care onto society.

A greedy socialist! I'm sure. What about personal responsibility?

[George from New England]

Do we know that the medicare systems pays the same amount as the public. I doubt it.

This $3000 or $4000 a month is the public's fee. Medicare must be paying much less.

Can an in-the-know freeper verify this?

[foolscap]

Wow this guy thinks that he is owed an inheritance. If one is older and has the money to pay for their care then they should. What does he want "free" universal nursing homes for everyone no matter what their income level? If ones parents earned the money and have it it is theirs to spend as the need arises. It does not become his until after they are dead. He is acting like the government ripped him off. Also he acts like everyone who is older ends up in a nursing home. That is not the case. Many of us keep our parents with us. A nursing home is only for when someones care can not be taken care of in a home setting. The best advice is to buy good long term care insurance early. I think the government will eventually start helping families in these situations because it costs them much more to put them in a nursing home. If a family can get help for say home health care workers or respite care it will keep many people out of the system and make everyone a lot more happy.

[CindyDawg]

The rates are the same. It depends on the level of care. Medicare pays 100% for 20 days and then 80% for the next 80 days. Once used up, it's hard to qualify again. Here anyway, medicaid is the main payer.

[RedWhiteBlue]

So the author suggests placing the burden of nursing home care onto society.

That is exactly what he's suggesting. Take money away from some other working stiff to pay for your parent's nursing home.

Although I think he has a point about trying to protect your assets to pass along to whomever you wish when you are no longer here. If you're rich enough, you can afford the nursing home when the time comes and still pass plenty on to your heirs. If you're poor, you don't have anything to pass on and you qualify for medicaid. For those in the middle, Long Term Care insurance is the answer. Hubby has a policy and I need to start thinking about getting one while I'm young enough for a less expensive premium. I don't want some poor schmuck that doesn't even know me to have their money confiscated to pay for my care. And I don't want what I have worked hard to accumulate getting blown away in a nursing home. I want to have a say in where it goes and who it goes to.

[benjaminjjones]

bump for later read, as my Pop is in assisted living.

From the sign on date, suspect a troll.

[NYTexan]

I'm glad to see folks like you looking out for your future in a responsible manor. Good on you!

It really disgusts me when I hear stories of people who use lawyers to transfer wealth to others with the sole intent of placing an elderly individual into the domain of the public.

[RedWhiteBlue]

For those that are indigent, Medicaid kicks in. My understanding is that Medicaid pays only about $87/day, and I may be off just a hair on that figure. Depending on where you are in the US, daily rates can be MUCH higher that the figures quoted in this article, so the gap between private pay and Medicaid patients in the same facility is significant.

When my f-i-l broke his hip a year ago, his insurance company sent him to a nursing home to get daily physical therapy to see if he could regain his abilities. After they determined that he was not going to make any progress from the physical therapy (dementia just too bad), the insurance stopped covering his stay. He continued for a while as a private pay patient, and was paying $127/day, or $40 more per day than the government reimbursement for Medicaid patients.

[NYTexan]

Your suspicions are off base!

[RedWhiteBlue]

I'm glad to see folks like you looking out for your future in a responsible manor.

After seeing two grandmothers waste away over the course of several years, one gets to thinking very seriously about how to plan for old age. Not only does hubby have a policy, but both of my parents do as well. Words cannot describe the peace of mind that gives me.

[jb6]

Nursing homes make me sick. Let me ask this question, where will the old person live longer, as a member of a family, doing their part for the unit or in death's waiting room watching their friends and roommates drop dead each day and praying for that rare visit from the kids? Sick crap, we throw away our old people like a pair of used socks.

When my parents can't live on their own they will live with my family. If that means moving to a different house that better accomadates them, so be it.

[jb6]

If this article was about personal responsibility, we wouldn't be talking aobut sending your grandma to rot in death's waiting room.

[arthurus]

This $3000 or $4000 a month is the public's fee. Medicare must be paying much less.

# or 4 g a month helps make up the "shortfall" resulting from the welfare patients. Have you ever seen a medicare nursing home? It is not pretty.

[NYTexan]

Amen to that!

[Paulus Invictus]

Even worse than what the nursing homes are charging is what the savvy insurance companies charge you for "extended care" insurance. If you fall for this scam, depending upon your age at the time you sign up for it (don't do it!), your monthly premiums can be as high as $2,000 +.

I like the idea of the gold coins hidden away, but make sure the heirs know where they are. My father-in-law had some gold coins hidden in the basement, but an ingrate grandson found them, lifted them and traded them in for his own use. When gold is in play, people do crazy things.

[Glenn]

Why didn't this selfish creep just have his mother live with him?

[CindyDawg]

Medicaid rates vary, depending on the level of care a resident needs. The 79 dollars is the minimum paid. It's against the law to charge the public a different rate. I have mixed feelings on families spending down with the intent that nursing home a possibility in the future. Medicaid is welfare. People wouldn't want someone to get approved for food stamps, housing etc that had 20000 dollars in the bank but at the same time I can understand the feeling of "mother paid taxes all her life and the government not going to take her last 20000 dollars" If mom and dad placed in a swanky private pay retirement facility would the money still be such an issue though? Would someone expect the government to foot the bill? What's the difference?