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Does Medicare cover a test or procedure recommended by your doctor? You’ll know at a glance if you use Medicare’s new “What’s Covered” app. This free app lets you search for specific services or browse a list of alphabetized services to determine what is covered by Medicare Parts A and B. You can also access basic information about costs. While the app provides an extensive list of the services, tests, and procedures covered (or not covered) by Medicare, it does not take into account a user’s specific co-insurance, supplemental insurance, or deductibles. The What’s Covered app is part of an initiative by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to modernize Medicare and empower beneficiaries. Other CMS initiatives include price transparency tools, improved online support, and a web-chat option on the Medicare Plan Finder. You can get the What’s Covered app from the App Store or Google Play by

One-half of all Americans who reside in nursing homes receive assistance from Medicaid to pay for their care. This is not surprising, given the extraordinarily high cost of long-term care. The real surprise is that half of all Americans don’t seek Medicaid assistance to cover nursing home costs. There are several reasons for this, but one of the most common can be summed up in a single word: hearsay. Or, if you prefer, the rumor mill. Here are just a few examples of the myths surrounding the use of Medicaid to pay for nursing home care: The healthy spouse will be kicked out of the family home The government will take all of your assets You’ll have to live in an old, dilapidated facility You’ll receive inadequate care, or no care at all Rumors like these often come from well-meaning family members, friends, and neighbors. While none of them are

PLANS FOR LONG-TERM CARE: MEDICARE VS. MEDICAID By and large, Medicare does not provide adequate coverage for nursing home care. For example, Medicare Part A only covers up to 100 days in a skilled nursing facility for a particular illness, and only after the patient has spent at least three days in a hospital. To make matters worse, from day 21 to day 100 the individual in the skilled nursing facility must make a co-payment of $170.50 per day. Few people actually receive Medicare coverage for the full 100 days, in part because of the substantial copay, and in part because restrictions and conditions for coverage are rather stringent. Medicaid, on the other, does cover long-term nursing home care for people who meet its asset and income and limits. One hundred days, one year, ten years—Medicaid will pay for the care as long as the recipient is eligible. Given the

MEDICARE, MEDICAID, AND PLANNING FOR LONG-TERM CARE Perhaps you are unsure of the difference between Medicare and Medicaid as it pertains to the challenge of paying for long-term care. If so, you are not alone. The two programs sound similar and both of them provide for medical care. Let’s begin with a short definition of each program. Then, we’ll look at each program’s potential to help you cover the cost of expensive long-term care. Medicare is an entitlement program. Anyone who has reached the age of 65, and is eligible to receive benefits from Social Security, can also receive Medicare. Medicaid, on the other hand, is a public assistance program. It is designed to help those with limited assets and income pay for medical care. In order for a person to receive assistance from Medicaid to pay for nursing home care, he or she must meet certain asset and income

WHAT IS ASSET PROTECTION? As an attorney who teaches lawyers across the country about estate planning, elder law, Medicaid planning, Veterans benefits planning, and asset protection planning, it is amazing to me how much confusion there is among lawyers as to what asset protection really is.  If there is that much confusion with lawyers, I could only image the confusion with their clients.  So what is asset protection? Asset protection laws deal with the protection of your assets against future creditors.  Asset protection planning cannot be done to avoid having to pay existing creditors or existing obligations.  The most common protection sought is protection from the “nursing home” or other long term care costs.  Asset protection also includes the protection of assets from lawsuits, one’s own poor decision making, or fear of not having the mental capacity to manage the assets you have accumulated.  All of these are forms of