A nursing home attorney is an invaluable advocate as you make plans to get nursing home care for yourself or for a loved one. An experienced attorney at Mark S. Eghrari & Associates PLLC can help you to research care facilities, check citations and past complaints, and otherwise take steps to make certain that a facility you chose is a high-quality care facility that is right for you. 
Because getting high quality nursing home care can be very expensive, we also assist you in understanding when and how you can get your care costs paid for. One of the key things that you must understand when considering how the costs of nursing home care will get covered is the definition of custodial care.
What is Custodial Care and Why Does it Matter?
Custodial care is defined by Medicare as “non-skilled personal care, like help with activities of daily living like bathing, dressing, eating, getting in or out of a bad or chair, moving around, and using the bathroom.” Medicare also goes on to explain that using eye drops or otherwise taking care of health-related care that most people handle on their own is also considered to be custodial care.
The definition of custodial care matters a lot. It is important to know how custodial care is defined because, as Medicare explains, Medicare does not cover custodial care. Custodial care is not paid for at all by Medicare, even for brief periods and for limited durations and even when this care is vital because you cannot handle daily living without this kind of care.
Not only does Medicare not cover custodial care, but most other insurers also do not cover this kind of care either. Medicare Advantage plans, Medigap plans and private health insurance providers will typically pay nothing at all for custodial care. This leaves those who require custodial care in a very bad situation. Getting this kind of care when you need it is not optional, but if it is not covered by any kind of insurance, it is extremely expensive.
Many people who require custodial care will spend thousands of dollars per month to get the care either in a nursing home or provided in their own home by a healthcare aide who offers in-house long term care services. Money can run out quickly, and those who are spending a fortune on custodial care will find themselves having spent their life savings in a matter of months under most circumstances. Money and assets which were supposed to have been a legacy to leave behind for loved ones will instead be spent on getting long term care.
Purchasing a long term care insurance policy could be one option to try to make sure this doesn’t happen, but long term care policies are often prohibitively expensive – especially as you get older. The policies may also have daily limits on the amount they pay for coverage or other exclusions which make the policies insufficient for actually paying for the kind of care that is needed.
Because of the high costs associated with paying for long term care and the limited options for finding a third-party source of payment, qualifying for Medicaid services becomes vital. Medicaid will pay for nursing home care or home healthcare aides under appropriate circumstances, but you will need to make certain that you have protected your assets so the wealth that you have does not cause you to be disqualified from means-tested Medicaid benefits. An experienced attorney can help you to avoid having to impoverish yourself by taking steps to protect your assets before you need Medicaid to cover the costs of your nursing home care.
Getting Help from A Nursing Home Attorney
A nursing home attorney at Mark S. Eghrari & Associates PLLC can assist you in better understanding the definition of custodial care and can help you to create a plan so Medicaid will cover your custodial care if you need it. We can also provide assistance with other issues related to asset protection and related to nursing home planning so you can create a plan now that will give you more security, no matter what the future brings.
To find out how our legal team can help you with a wide variety of issues related to nursing home care and Medicaid planning, join us for a free seminar, You can also give us a call at (631) 265-0599 or contact us online to get personalized one-on-one advice. Call any time to start making plans in case you need nursing home care.
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