Medicare or Medicaid?

Описание: Transcript:

Do you know the difference between Medicaid and Medicare? Are you afraid of them? And that you'll end up with poor health care? Are you concerned that you have too much money for government programs,
like these but not enough to take care of things, as you age? Did you know that even if you have a will you still have to go to probate? And if you don't, you could lose everything. These are some important things to think about and by not understanding the process, it could cost you or your loved ones
everything you’ve spent your entire life saving and preparing for. Our guest today is elder law and estate planning attorney, Aaron Miller. And he's going to demystify some of these issues and give us some specifics on what we are required to do by law to protect our assets. Welcome Aaron. Thank you, appreciate it. Yeah, you've got a lot that you're going to share with us today. Let's start with one I don't understand, tell us the difference between Medicaid and Medicare. Well, it's a great question because a lot of people are confused. Medicare people think pay for long-term care
and it really doesn't. It pays for things like hospitals, doctors, and sometimes prescriptions. A lot of people are confused about Medicaid because they think it's just for poor people, but it's really how the middle class pay for long-term nursing home care. Well, I did not know that. So these, these are government-backed programs and people are afraid of them. You know, that they're going to do this and then get poor health care. What's the reality of it? Well, what I found is,
it's really not whether or not a nursing home takes Medicaid or not.
It really comes down to who's actually providing the care, who's doing
the hands-on providing of the nursing home care.
And once you find a great nursing home, you really need to make sure you follow up with them and keep track of them. Because in six months, the people may be gone. But it doesn't have anything to do with whether or not that nursing home takes Medicaid or not. Interesting. Now, what about about, I have too much money can I still qualify?
Well, one of the things that an elder law attorney will do is help a person look at their assets and figure out how we can get them qualify.
There's really not too much money. Okay. Now one of the things we talked about earlier, mentioned, is that in the state of Texas if you have a will people think that's all I need. I don't have to go to probate. But what's the reality of it? Well, the reality is a will is just a piece of paper until it goes through the probate process. Probate is a legal process by which your stuff goes to your heirs, and your beneficiaries. And during the process a judge basically says, yep the person has passed away. Yes,
this is a proper will and the person who's trying to get appointed
as executor, the person in charge of the estate,
they're allowed to do so. Until the judge says
it's will, it's not a will. That's really important
because you could lose everything that you set up trying to protect your family. Now, you're really passionate about this and there's a reason. Why are you an estate attorney?
Well, when I was a kid my grandmother had some issues
and she went to a nursing home,
and my grandfather spent their entire life savings on nursing home care.
And when it came time for him to need nursing home care as well,
my aunt, my uncle, my dad, they have to dip into their own savings to pay
for his care. And nobody talked to them about the different options that are available to them.
So I'm passionate about this because I want to make sure that this doesn't happen to anybody else.
I love this, and I've learned so much that I didn't know and there's a lot of people out there
you're going to help. So thank you so much for being with us today.
Thank you. I appreciate it. If you want to learn more,
please download your estate plan checklist at yourestateplanchecklist.com.