For people who want to circumvent the law with regard to retaining their parents assets and avoiding care costs...
Please post here so I don't have to see your posts anywhere else then I can avoid this post and you can just sort out how to defraud the state all by yourselves
Can't agree more...I worked hard and bought long term care insurance..so I would have funds to pay for my and my husband's care...that's a lot less work than trying to defraud the government..plus you are defrauding all taxpayers...including those on this site..so think about that before you post ..as most of us resent you misusing our taxes..
I agree that we need to save for our old age and as someone said, we are living longer so more than likely we might need some kind of care. This can only come from savings or long term ins. unless you have nothing. Both of which means that we need to be prepared. My husband just passed and didn't need any long term expensive care but I still had it on him..and I have more on myself as I don't want anyone to take care of me and I want choices. Yes, I could spend all of my money and stop paying the long term premiums but it offers a lot of security for me to have it.
Both my parents were ants - in a huge way! Scrimped, saved, did without and for two public school teachers save a very healthy chunk of change. For some reason it was really important to my dad to leave an inheritance to his children - even in his last days when coherent thoughts were few and far between he would ask me how much money he and mom had and then close his eyes with a nod of his head after I told him. 3 1/2 years later mom is still alive and going through their savings - I'm hoping it will last so she can still have choices and extras when it comes to her care. My fathers brother and his wife were grasshoppers and had to tap into Medicaid fairly early in their retirement - yet for a while mom and aunt lived in the same facility - mom paying with savings, aunt with Medicaid. A few weeks ago my mom said she wanted to send me and hubby on a European vacation - would I have liked that? Sure! Did I accept it? No. Moms money needs to go towards her care. Does this whole thing bug me? Yes, at times. However - my parents practically worshipped Franklin Roosevelt - he saved this county in their eyes, he made sure that everyone was helped out of the Great Depression. My parents understood and taught me to understand that every human being deserves care and comfort in their time of need. That some times the people who have, carry the weight for those who don't. People take care of each other - it's the right thing to do. That's what my parents believe(d), that's what I believe. But nothing makes me angrier than seeing people cheat, hide and lie to get more for themselves and/or to rip off the system. My daddy use to tell me "Don't ever do anything you wouldn't want published on the front page of the newspaper". So I try to live my life that way and bite my tounge a lot. I'm just glad daddy passed believing his dream of leaving an inheritance to his children was alive and healthy - even if it isn't anymore.
The arrogant perception of entitlement to state and federal support really irks me as well. I certainly don't begrudge the people who've lived on the margin all their lives, working at lower paying jobs, not able to work at higher paying jobs for various personal or educational reasons, or those with physical problems that put them at disadvantage even just trying to support themselves.
But what really irks me are (1) those who make no plans for themselves, finding ways to leverage health problems to get on disability as soon as they figure out how to do it, and (2) those who plan to shield assets, planning years ahead of time to transfer and protect assets so that their elder who would otherwise have sufficient funds for self pay can eventually tap into that great pot of money fund called Medicaid.
Especially egregious are the wealthy, who from what I saw at one law firm where I worked, have no compunction about going to an attorney to get advice on asset shielding.
It's the abuse by the wealthy who could afford to pay for care as well as those who lack the responsibility to WANT to care for themselves that compromises the ability of funds for those who really need it, JMHO.
E.g., I know of a person who was so irresponsible that she deliberately let her health deteriorate, ignoring warning signs of drastically high glucose levels, and let her diabetes get so out of control that she really did have serious problems from diabetes. She joked about her glucose level regularly being in the 300 level range. And boy, did she suck off Medicaid when she was able to get it!
On the other hand, another woman, survivor of The Great Depression, monitored her glucose level regularly, changed her diet, and survived well into her 90's, living at home only with assistance from her family and spending only her last few days in a hospital.
A neighbor was also an abuser. In her 30's, she discovered that being an alcoholic was considered a disability (I don't know if it is, but she claimed to have found a way to be "disabled" and still be a drunk). She loafed around the house, drinking and smoking, sucking off the public for years. She should have had a good swift butt kick and put to work scrubbing latrines or something.
I know what you mean Jude... let's hide Grandma's money so we can get it and let the taxpayers pay for taking care of her.
But then many times it is Grandma opening up her own portfolio and handing out money to the children and grandchildren not realizing that she could live another 10-20 years due to modern science [great if Grandma is healthy and of sound mind], but there won't be any money left. Thus, hello Medicaid, which is paid for through our Federal and State taxes here in the States.
What irks me is that my hard earned tax dollars are going to help someone who shopped until they dropped without any thought of the future. Oops. Double edge sword, as no one is educating the people to save for the future, and if the big time shoppers stopped shopping, the economy would crash.
Jude, I dare say that if your national health care programs were cancelled tomorrow in GB the whole country would become the same money grubbing elder care mess that is the US. I don't know a lot about GB, I watch PBS and I traveled around the country back in 1978, but even with all its faults the British medical system is far superior to the US. For lots of Yanks, it's a decision between paying the rent, buying food, taking care of "MUM" or buying meds.
I get tired of the greedy posters also but I feel many are truly stuck in horrible financial situations not necessarily of their own making. But yeah, some are really greedy smucks.
My mother came up with a classic today. She said she wanted to give her money to my brother's church. Oh, gosh. His church is a little store front in a tiny town. Maybe ten families go. I quickly put a No Way on that thought. It kind of scared me that she would even think such a thing.
My mother has enough money to pay for a few years in a good nursing home. I am hoping that we never have to tap into Medicaid. I've been careful with her money, spending just enough to keep a chicken in the pot and a roof over our heads. Oh, lordy, where do these strange ideas come from?
Jude, in our case, my MIL was the one who came up with the bright idea. She said she wanted to give it all to her grandchildren so the government wouldn't get it. Fortunately we stopped her from doing that. All too often people write "but she wanted me to have it" or "she willed it to me." I cannot tell if they are naïve or just #$%^&*greedy, so I bite my tongue and try to wake them up before they make a mess.
Yes I do too cwillie absolutely understand it but I can't abide them bringing anger to this caregivers who are working really hard to give fantastic care to relative with no thought to inheritance. I have no problem with caregivers being paid I have said that they should be. What annoys me is when people say they want advice about xy and z and you can see immediately that what they want is to learn how to force the state to pay for care for the elder person who may well have saved to make provision for good care in their last stages of life. They may not have saved for that reason but times change and we can no longer expect the state to pay for everything. (in my opinion in the UK they should raise taxation to ensure good end of life care but that aint ever going to happen)
The trouble is that the post war baby boom has now raised awareness that there isn't enough money in the coffers to pay for care. We may not like it but we have to accept it and behave like citizens.
Jude, I feel for our American cousins who have to spend so much on their healthcare, here the rate for a nursing home is set by the government at an affordable amount, and of course those who can't pay even that are still cared for exactly the same. But even I have to admit to feeling some resentment sometimes that those who have spent their lives like the proverbial grasshopper may one day get to share a room with those ants who scrimped and saved and did without in order to put money aside.
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But what really irks me are (1) those who make no plans for themselves, finding ways to leverage health problems to get on disability as soon as they figure out how to do it, and (2) those who plan to shield assets, planning years ahead of time to transfer and protect assets so that their elder who would otherwise have sufficient funds for self pay can eventually tap into that great pot of money fund called Medicaid.
Especially egregious are the wealthy, who from what I saw at one law firm where I worked, have no compunction about going to an attorney to get advice on asset shielding.
It's the abuse by the wealthy who could afford to pay for care as well as those who lack the responsibility to WANT to care for themselves that compromises the ability of funds for those who really need it, JMHO.
E.g., I know of a person who was so irresponsible that she deliberately let her health deteriorate, ignoring warning signs of drastically high glucose levels, and let her diabetes get so out of control that she really did have serious problems from diabetes. She joked about her glucose level regularly being in the 300 level range. And boy, did she suck off Medicaid when she was able to get it!
On the other hand, another woman, survivor of The Great Depression, monitored her glucose level regularly, changed her diet, and survived well into her 90's, living at home only with assistance from her family and spending only her last few days in a hospital.
A neighbor was also an abuser. In her 30's, she discovered that being an alcoholic was considered a disability (I don't know if it is, but she claimed to have found a way to be "disabled" and still be a drunk). She loafed around the house, drinking and smoking, sucking off the public for years. She should have had a good swift butt kick and put to work scrubbing latrines or something.
But then many times it is Grandma opening up her own portfolio and handing out money to the children and grandchildren not realizing that she could live another 10-20 years due to modern science [great if Grandma is healthy and of sound mind], but there won't be any money left. Thus, hello Medicaid, which is paid for through our Federal and State taxes here in the States.
What irks me is that my hard earned tax dollars are going to help someone who shopped until they dropped without any thought of the future. Oops. Double edge sword, as no one is educating the people to save for the future, and if the big time shoppers stopped shopping, the economy would crash.
I get tired of the greedy posters also but I feel many are truly stuck in horrible financial situations not necessarily of their own making. But yeah, some are really greedy smucks.
My mother has enough money to pay for a few years in a good nursing home. I am hoping that we never have to tap into Medicaid. I've been careful with her money, spending just enough to keep a chicken in the pot and a roof over our heads. Oh, lordy, where do these strange ideas come from?
All too often people write "but she wanted me to have it" or "she willed it to me." I cannot tell if they are naïve or just #$%^&*greedy, so I bite my tongue and try to wake them up before they make a mess.
The trouble is that the post war baby boom has now raised awareness that there isn't enough money in the coffers to pay for care. We may not like it but we have to accept it and behave like citizens.