Several weeks ago, a dear family friend of mine suffered a devastating stroke. For a few days, his family members didn’t know if he would survive this event. Thankfully, he did. Now, he is undergoing the slow recovery process in a nursing home. Since his stroke, his family has been amazing. They visit him daily at the nursing facility. They have even decorated his room in an effort to make him feel like he is at home. If your loved one has recently been admitted to a nursing home, don’t despair. You may be able to help your loved one adjust to this living situation better by being supportive. On this blog, you will discover the ways to make your loved one’s transition to a nursing home easier.
A Home Away from Home
Life Settlement: An Option To Help Pay For Alzheimer's Assisted Living
Johnny Rodriguez
Although the average monthly care costs for an assisted living community that offers Alzheimer's care vary from state to state, no matter your geographic location, the cost to care for an individual with Alzheimer's disease increases as the disease progresses. While individuals age 65 and older who receive Social Security retirement benefits qualify for Medicare coverage, the program doesn't cover all the care costs related to Alzheimer's disease. But despite the high cost of placing a loved one in a memory care facility, other options, including life settlement, are available to provide families with the financial resources to help pay for dementia care.
What Medicare Doesn't Cover
Medicare pays for health care; therefore, the insurance pays for medications under Medicare Part D to treat the disease, but it doesn't pay for the non-medical services Alzheimer's patients eventually need. Medicare does not pay for a home health aide to assist an individual with the daily tasks of living or assure the safety of a person with Alzheimer's who wanders. Nor does it pay for a person with Alzheimer's to receive care in an assisted living facility. Unless the individual has long-term care insurance to help cover the cost, assisted-living care expenses usually come out of the family's pocket.
What a Life Settlement Is
Once you determine how much Alzheimer's care in an assisted living community will cost, life settlement can give you the cash you need. An individual who has a life insurance policy he or she no longer needs can sell the policy and receive a cash lump sum in return. Life settlement companies generally don't charge you or put you under any obligation to sell if you request a life settlement appraisal.
While life settlement companies require a minimum face amount of a policy to consider it for a life settlement, the amount varies by company. Life settlement brokers represent policy owners by negotiating with multiple life settlement providers who bid on the policies for investors. Bid offers are based on the face amount of the life insurance policy and the policy owner's life expectancy.
A life settlement usually yields a higher cash payout than the cash surrender value of a life insurance policy. Once you accept an offer, you can use the money in any way you want, such as paying for long-term care costs. Fees involved in a life settlement transaction include the broker's fee and capital gains tax.
What Affects the Cost of Care
Several factors affect how much Alzheimer's assisted living care will cost. If you are trying to estimate the cost of care for a parent, spouse, or other loved one before exploring a life settlement and then deciding whether to take a life settlement offer, you need to take into account the:
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Level of care the person requires. The types of care, number of support services, and the frequency with which a person needs assistance affect the cost. The more assistance the person requires, the higher the cost.
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Type of living unit. The size of the living quarters affects the cost. Assisted living communities generally offer residents the choice of private or companion rooms or suites, or apartments.
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Where the assisted living community is located. Although the average annual cost for basic assisted living services is $41,724 nationwide, the monthly costs of care is more in some states than in others.
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