Medicare transition questions….what happens now?

[pogi]

On 1/28/2024 at 6:58 AM, Emily said:

Long term care policies are expensive, but so is long term care. You are left with four choices for planning for that. Either save enough personal, out of pocket money to let you pay around $6000 a month until death (adjust for potential inflation) for a reasonably decent facility, buy a long term care policy, or plan on giving away all your possessions, including your house if you own one, to family members who will be in charge of your care so you'll qualify for medicaid to send you to some pretty grim facilities.

There's also the fourth option of moving in with your kids, but I don't personally recommend that option unless you've got a fantastic relationship with all your children and their spouses that guarantees they'll view your presence in their home as a blessing. I also don't recommend home care when severe dementia is involved. Physical frailties and a little bit batty, relatives can handle. The relentless needs of a paranoid, combative, fearful dementia patient can't be dealt with in a private home.

If you don't expect full blown dementia, just physical failing, and can reasonably expect your relatives to help with your care, then you'll still need enough money to pay for a maid and/or home help caregiver services. Also set aside money to pay for any modifications that need to be made in your home or children's home to accommodate your needs. 

Long term care policies can also cover home help (look for that provision.) So even if you go the route of moving in with kids, or staying in your own home, you might want to consider a policy that will pay for home help. A policy can also help alleviate the attitude that some parents (and their children) seem to get that estate assets need to be preserved for the children's "inheritance" instead of spent on expensive caregiver services. Raspberries to that idea. If you saved for retirement, the money is to take care of you in retirement -- even if that means spending every last penny on a nice caregiver to do your laundry, mop your floors and help you take a shower 

On a somewhat macabre "happy note". If you have life threatening health problems, your policy premiums will actually be cheaper than if you are otherwise healthy but likely to need extensive long term care because of ongoing physical or mental disabilities. This is the one time, when you are buying a medical policy, when you need to make every illness you put on the medical history sound as life threatening as possible. 🥴

Another emerging trend is to retire on a cruise ship.   It can cost half as much as a nursing home and is comparable or sometimes even cheaper than assisted living facilities.  It comes with housekeeping, luxury meals, entertainment, spas, 24/7 health care with doctors and nurses on-board who are equipped to take care of most emergency situations, etc.  Quality of life would be far greater than in drab ALFs and nursing homes.  It can be a really good option for people who are mostly independent and don't have complicated chronic issues who require lots of daily medical assistance.   For those who do require more assistance, convince a few other retirees who are looking into nursing homes to join you on your trip and split the cost of a private CNA.  Would be relatively pretty cheap.   

 

Edited January 29, 2024 by pogi

[Calm]

Got my Medicare number today, I am both relieved as it’s nice to get things completed before the 1st so no glitches, but strangely depressed.  Maybe it makes me feel old or on the downhill side of life…or maybe it’s just January…thankfully, not much longer though February is definitely not my favorite month.  Things start picking up in March.

[MiserereNobis]

9 minutes ago, Calm said:

Got my Medicare number today, I am both relieved as it’s nice to get things completed before the 1st so no glitches, but strangely depressed.  Maybe it makes me feel old or on the downhill side of life…or maybe it’s just January…thankfully, not much longer though February is definitely not my favorite month.  Things start picking up in March.

Strap yourself in, Calm, you've got some months to go:

"April is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain"

[rodheadlee]

On 1/26/2024 at 7:32 PM, MiserereNobis said:

Wouldn't it be nice if all of this was just simply taken care of for everyone from birth to death without having to deal with insurance and paperwork and switching from this to that? You just know that if you are a citizen of the country, the country covers your medical necessities because you are a human being and advanced super wealthy countries (remember, the United States is the richest country in the history of the world) take care of their own?

Perhaps Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and others could donate 75% of their wealth to this cause. It wouldn't change their lifestyle at all, but would radically change the living experiences of so so many. If they don't want to donate, tax them. It wouldn't change the way they live at all, so what do they care? If it's just because they want big numbers on a piece of paper, then that's pure greed.

Remember what Jesus had to say about riches and greed.

If the moderators want to ding me and ban me from the thread, I'll take it. The wife of one of the security guards at our school found out that her uterine cancer has metastasized and needs a second round of chemo treatment. He makes like $20k a year. It was the beginning of the year. She was told they couldn't start until she was able to pay the out-of-pocket deductible that is about 40% of their income. There was a go fund me set up for the public and a collection went around our school. They've raised enough money to start treatment.

Why is this happening in the wealthiest country the world has ever known? Why can't Cookie just get treated for cancer without having to ask other people to help her pay for it?

I'm sorry, I'm feeling raw from a few wealth inequality based situations recently.

Elon Musk is trying send colonists to Mars. He doesn't live the same lifestyle as Jeff Bezos.

[Tacenda]

1 hour ago, Calm said:

Got my Medicare number today, I am both relieved as it’s nice to get things completed before the 1st so no glitches, but strangely depressed.  Maybe it makes me feel old or on the downhill side of life…or maybe it’s just January…thankfully, not much longer though February is definitely not my favorite month.  Things start picking up in March.

I have days like this, and in my mind keep thinking to just hold on for another day (it feels bleak) ...and luckily it gets better. Glad you got taken care of with Medicare, I can imagine the eye/brain strain from making sure to fill out paper work correctly was a pain. 

Edited January 31, 2024 by Tacenda

[Calm]

38 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

keep thinking to just hold on for another day

Yep, same here. It has happened enough I know it will pass. Sometimes I can speed it up.  Swimming really helps, but it ain’t appealing midwinter. 

Edited January 31, 2024 by Calm