Reality Check from Sara

New to the blog: my middle sister, Sara!  

Reality Check:

Some experts predict that residing in a nursing home will cost $178,000 a year by the year 2030.*

If you want Medicaid to cover your spouse's nursing home expenses, they aren't allowed to have more than $4000 in their name. This varies by state--Nebraska is $4000, but Iowa is $2000. There is something where you can have up to a certain amount of money in you name (between you & your spouse's assets), but this is strictly limited to "essential" needs (such as home, insurance, etc.), not disposable income.

..and you have to wait 5 yrs if you made any "major" gifts with that money or you are penalized for it (so no handing off a few $100K checks to your kids).

 

* Money Magazine gave the prediction of nursing home costs in 2030.