How much does a nursing home cost?
As the Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once said, “I’ll know it when I see it,” determining the cost of nursing home care can vary widely depending on location, need, and availability. We have found that by working with our colleagues at Iowa’s best nursing homes, we have been able to shed some light on the pricing of various nursing homes. The prices can range from about $175/day to $698/day. Why the huge disparity? The more care a loved one needs, the more the facility will cost—painting with a broad stroke of course. The most expensive specialized nursing facilities are those that cater to people that require respirators or other assistive breathing devices. Similarly, if a loved one has cognitive issues that require specialized care, such as feeding, or other issues related to a diagnosis like Dementia, the cost will likely be on the higher end of the spectrum.
Deep breaths—we will work our best to prevent the high cost of nursing care from helping protect everything your loved one has worked for all their lives. Few to no people are taught in school about nursing home care, how to prepare for nursing home facilities, and how to pay for almost $1,000/day. You are not alone in this and that’s why you’ve already started looking up the costs of nursing home care. Depending on where you and your loved one are in the process of finding the right facility, the attorneys at our firm can help protect all of your assets from forfeiture or Medicaid’s dreaded five year look back. For example, have you considered Veteran’s Benefits? That only has a two year look back…
The lookback period is the duration of time that Medicare or the Veteran’s Administration has to look back at your assets to determine eligibility. Any “non-exempt” transfers can be used against you during what’s known as a penalty period. The penalty period is the amount of time the individual or family must pay for the nursing home before Medicaid or the Veterans Administration kicks in to pay. The highly trained staff at our firm know how to work within all applicable Federal and State statutes to make sure you don’t have to pay more than you necessary. That requires an enormous amount of work, but more importantly, it requires trust between the client, the family, and the attorneys. Our office is comfortable, welcoming, and designed to help families achieve their goals. Why do we make things so easy for you? Because we care about Iowans!