55+ Living Guide Magazine Spring/Summer 2018 Spring 2018 | Page 46
Legal
The Caregiver’s
Conundrum
B Y D AV I D A . K U B I K I A N , E S Q .
W
hen I meet with prospective clients who want
to engage in estate or elder law planning, it
is not uncommon to hear them forcefully
tell me something along the lines of “I will
never go to a nursing home” and/or hear
them allude to preferring to take walk in the woods and
‘take matters into their own hands’, or something along
those lines. I understand what they are saying. It should
be nobody’s life goal to call a skilled nursing facility their
home. Nonetheless, we don’t always have a choice in life and
the truth is that with caring and compassionate skilled care,
the quality of our life can greatly be enhanced, even in a
nursing home. There is however, an alternative commonly
referred to as “aging in place”.
Aging in place is a relatively old concept which has had
new life in recent years, coinciding with the increase in the
elderly population and the stigma of nursing homes. The
idea is simple. Keep your loved one in their most familiar
environment, their home. All while balancing the needs for
social interactions, rehab/exercise and the type of care they
require on a day to day basis. After all, if a loved one has
dementia, robbing them of their short-term memory, why
not surround them with pictures and furnishings that make
them feel comfortable. Typically, aging in place requires
not only a residence that can physically accommodate a
loved one (safety bars in bathrooms, larger hallways and
doorways, etc..), but also someone ready, willing and able
to provide the care. That brings us to one of the most
overlooked parties in the long-term care planning equation:
the caregiver.
Last year, the New York Times addressed the life of a
caregiver in an article that told the heartbreaking, but
increasingly familiar story of Mark Donham, the husband
and now widower of his wife, Chris. Mark’s wife had early-
onset Alzheimer’s and Mark stood by his wife’s side the
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entire time. As the article details, Mark quit his regular job
in order to take on the much harder job of being a 24-hour
caregiver. Laundry, cleaning and later toileting, feeding,
and transporting were all part of his new job description.
By all accounts, Mark did everything he could until the
disease took his wife. Along the way, his efforts had a
negative impact on his life in more ways than just grief. The
stresses of caring for his wife, whether financial, physical or
emotional, took its toll. Please know that help is out there
for you and your family.
When we do our educational Estate and Medicaid
Planning seminars, it is routine for attendees to hear about
“Community Medicaid” for the first time. A part of the
federal Medicaid program, Community Medicaid is a
vehicle through which people can get skilled nursing or
home health aids in their own home. Community Medicaid
can even include programs that get your loved one out of
the house to get that valuable social contact. Similar to
Medicaid coverage in nursing homes, Community Medicaid
is a needs-based program and an applicant must be below
certain resource levels in order to qualify. Unlike nursing
home care however, Community Medicaid’s application
does not include a 5-year look back period, meaning that
it is never too late to get help caring for your loved one at
home. In addition, with proper counsel, you can also use
excess income (income above the Medicaid cap) for your
expenses figuratively having your cake and eating it to, i.e.
getting Medicaid to pay for hours of care for your loved
one while using that loved one’s excess income for either
additional care or paying other expenses.
Aging in place is a wonderful idea. Taking care of your
loved one through their dementia is a good and noble
thing. Doing it alone however is something you should try
to avoid. Look into Community Medicaid for the sake of
your loved one and yourself.
Herzog has offices
conveniently located in
Albany, Saratoga Springs
and Kingston. For a list of
our upcoming seminars
throughout the Capital Region
and Hudson Valley, please go
to www.herzoglaw.com.
To schedule a complimentary
1 hour consultation, please
call 518-641-0026 or email
DAVID KUBIKIAN
Partner
Herzog Law Firm PC
55PlusLivingGuide.com
[email protected] and
get a thorough review of
your particular situation.