Caring Elder Law Attorney, East Meadow, NY

Medicaid planning requires a comprehensive planning of your income and assets to help qualify you for Medicaid. Medicaid is a program jointly funded at the state and federal level, to pay for medical care for low-income adults, the chronically ill, and the disabled.

Although Medicaid requirements limit coverage to those with limited financial means, with proper planning, it is possible for individuals with higher incomes and assets to lawfully qualify for the program. Techniques utilized in Medicaid planning include:

• Long-term care insurance
• Financial gifts to family members
• Purchasing annuities
• Title transfers
• Medicaid planning trusts
• Irrevocable trusts

With proper implementation, these tools can lower the income and asset base Medicaid uses to determine your eligibility, while leaving you with plenty of funds for daily living, as well as to pass on to your heirs.

Medicaid helps make getting older more affordable. For those who qualify, services covered under Medicaid include:

• Doctor’s visits
• Hospital stays
• In-home long-term care
• Long-term care at a facility
• Medication
• Medical supplies
• Other necessary medical needs

In New York State, unless you are pregnant, blind, have a disability, or a guardian of a minor, you must be 65 years old to qualify for Medicaid. However, it is important to get a plan in place early.

By law, Medicaid can review your assets before you even apply. You should begin the planning process at least five years before application. Ideally, you should be working with a senior law attorney to begin your planning before your 60^th birthday. If you are older than 60 and have yet to begin your Medicaid planning, an experienced elder law care attorney may still be able to help.

Another important part of elder care planning is having in place a health care proxy and living well in place. The New York Health Care Proxy Law allows for you to choose an agent to make medical decisions on your behalf should you become unable to make those decisions. You can limit your agent’s authority, but generally they would have the ability to,

• approve the receiving of treatment,
• select from treatment options provided, and
• make determinations regarding life sustaining measures.

A health care proxy is a powerful tool that keeps your care, made more impactful with the drafting of a living will. A living will is a document that provides more specific instructions to your agent and physicians regarding your wishes.

A living will is custom for each person, but may spell out your preferences for

• pain management,
• organ donation,
• life support, and
• other medical decisions.

It can be difficult to think ahead to a time where you cannot make decisions for yourself but having a living will in place will give your family peace of mind that they know your wishes, should you become incapacitated. Areas that can be addressed in a living will include the use of CPR, mechanical ventilation, tube feeding, dialysis, and comfort care.

Having a health care proxy and living will in place ensures that decisions for your care remain with someone you trust, who is guided by you own directives.

Hiring the Right Elder Law Estate Planning Lawyers

Planning for your later years is an area that requires the assistance of an experienced elder care law attorney with the bed side manor to understand how difficult these decisions can be.

Attorney Christopher Haner specializes in elder law, focusing on

• estate planning, administration, and litigation;
• long-term care and Medicaid counseling; and
• guardianship.

During a personalized evaluation, Christopher will get to know your goals and help you plan for the future with them in mind. Schedule your consultation today.