High Five: The Zen Guide to Planning for a Nursing Home Stay

If you’re dealing with a nursing home, it will quickly become clear that the options for paying the care bill are dizzying. Paying out of pocket is cost prohibitive. Long-term care insurance is probably not workable. For many, that leaves Medicaid, but those rules are spread over hundreds of pages of federal and state statutes, regulations, and policy manuals. What you need is an oasis from the stress, not the exponentially increasing stress that comes from trying to make sense of all those rules. Don’t despair. You can achieve calm in this whirlwind. Follow these five steps and you’ll soon find that the zen of nursing home planning is easily reached. [Read More]

Ethan Huizenga September 15, 2015

Nursing Home Workers vs Medicaid Experts

At an average of $180 per day in Iowa, paying $60,000 per year for a nursing home is not only likely, but it’s almost guaranteed. Staring that number in the face can make your stress level rise pretty quickly. So, you ask the nursing home social worker for information about applying for Medicaid. Unfortunately, nursing homes are being put in a position where they simply can’t talk to their patients about Medicaid eligibility planning. As a result, there are a few things the nursing home social worker may not tell you. [Read More]

Ethan Huizenga August 18, 2015

How to Take Control of the High Cost of Nursing Home Care

Nursing homes are expensive. Whether you’re looking at long-term care insurance well in advance of needing care or you’re visiting with the nursing home admissions office to move your elderly mother into her room tomorrow, you know that the out-of-pocket costs for nursing home care can quickly reach five digits. Paying $60,000 per year is not only likely, but it’s almost guaranteed. In the face of numbers like this, it’s only natural to despair. But you don’t have to feel lost as you face down the looming nursing home crisis. [Read More]

Ethan Huizenga August 11, 2015

Considerations for Iowa Special Needs Planning

Families who have members with special needs have a variety of concerns that most of the population don’t deal with on a regular basis. Whether you’re traveling to occupational therapy appointments, choosing the most effective medical devices, or contemplating whether to “mainstream” your special needs child, there are so many parts and pieces to keep in mind. For that very reason, you may not have even considered the need to meet with a special needs planning lawyer in Northwest Iowa. [Read More]

Ethan Huizenga June 9, 2015

High Five: 5 Ways to Pay for the Nursing Home

Nursing home care is expensive, and it’s not going to get better any time soon. With the 2014 average cost of nursing home care reaching $169 per day in Iowa, 70% of people reaching age 65 this year can expect to pay about $123,370-$141,115 (or more!) for their end of life care. The question becomes, how do you pay for an expense that huge? [Read More]

Ethan Huizenga April 22, 2015

Making Long-Term Care Insurance Part of Your Estate Plan

one area that often gets overlooked in the estate planning process is long-term care insurance. People have a variety of reasons for overlooking long-term care insurance, and, while some or all of these justifications may be true, it may still make sense to at least discuss the risks with your Northwest Iowa trust and estates attorney. [Read More]

Ethan Huizenga April 14, 2015

Elder Law for Dementia Patients

Along with the emotional turmoil on the patient and family members, dementia also takes quite a financial toll. Alzheimer’s and related illnesses are typically degenerative, progressing slowly over time, while requiring considerable medical and personal care. Elder care lawyers in Northwest Iowa have experience helping clients create plans which provide for both the medical and the quality-of-life aspects of these expenses. [Read More]

Ethan Huizenga March 10, 2015

Sharing Information with Your Family

Every family has its own approach when it comes to talking about financial and legal information. However, families who are at the estate planning phase should be having at least some superficial conversations about these topics, as there is significant information which needs to be shared just to make the estate plan work smoothly. [Read More]

Ethan Huizenga February 10, 2015

Legal Concerns for Caregivers

Elder lawyers in Northwest Iowa work not just with older clients, but also with their caregivers. Unfortunately, there are some legal issues which arise – caused by people who see the elderly as targets or victims – and often the caregiver is left to pick up the pieces.
[Read More]

Ethan Huizenga January 13, 2015

Orange City Estate Planning Blog

High Five: The Zen Guide to Planning for a Nursing Home Stay

Nursing Home Workers vs Medicaid Experts

How to Take Control of the High Cost of Nursing Home Care

Considerations for Iowa Special Needs Planning

High Five: 5 Ways to Pay for the Nursing Home

Making Long-Term Care Insurance Part of Your Estate Plan

Elder Law for Dementia Patients

Sharing Information with Your Family

Legal Concerns for Caregivers

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