EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO LONG-TERM PLANNING

EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO LONG-TERM PLANNING

Jim Lawless, MBA

Your Parkinson’s family needs YOU to consider planning for Long Term Care. Long-Term Care is a subject that is top of mind for many people in America today. While it may be something you are considering for yourselves, another reason to consider it could be right in front of you and quite simple: your Parkinson’s “family”. History has shown that Parkinson’s families who DO NOT plan adequately for their long-term care needs can ultimately end up sacrificing their income, assets, and financial promises that they have made—perhaps irrevocably in order to pay for the caregiver partner’s care. One thing perhaps not considered by the Parkinson’s family is the potential physical, emotional, and financial damage that is done to Parkinson’s family members if they have to become personally involved in delivering the Person with Parkinson’s long-term care. If you are a member of a Parkinson’s family and you do not have a long-term care plan and the caregiver needs the services that are associated with long-term care, prior experience has demonstrated that your children and family become the caregiver Long-Term Care plan. After all, what choice will you have given them?

There is a myriad of issues to consider when a family gets involved in their parent’s or partner’s long-term care plan; among them: time management, geography, and funding. Think about how pressed for time your children and family already are, balancing families, careers, and child activities. Also ponder the challenges that could ensue from a caregiving perspective, geographically speaking, if you do not all live in the same city. There are funding issues to consider because someone has to pay for the care. Further, multiple polls have taught us that most children do not want to take care of their parents, but when faced with these circumstances—they can and almost always do care for their parents… even if their relationship is not strong.

Long-Term Care and the challenges associated with it can often require more and more family members’ involvement as time passes. The collateral damage that can be associated with being directly involved in a family member’s long-term care plan can often involve irreversible damage to relationships, and there can also be profound resentment toward the folks that the care is being delivered to. Keep in mind also the opportunity costs that your family could be experiencing as it relates to their career, children, church, synagogue, or mosque because the time that is usually allocated to these aforementioned items has now been allocated to you.

There may remain several methods for possibly removing these potential burdens from your Parkinson’s family. Speak with your Certified Long-Term Care Insurance broker. Someone who understands all the policies available, who is eligible, who is not, what combinations of insurance and annuities might work, etc.,

                                                                 Monthly                    Annual

                                                                                                       In-Home Care

           Homemaker Services                      $4,481                    $ 53,772

            Home Health Aide                            $4,576                    $ 54,912

                                                                                                      Community & Assisted Living

           Adult Day Health Care                     $1,603                    $ 19,236

          Assisted Living Facility                    $4,300                    $ 51,600

                                                                                                      Nursing Home Facility 

            Semi-Private Room                           $7,756                    $ 93,072

             Private Room                                     $8,821                    $105,852

Unless you already have a Certified Long-Term Care broker, PRO suggests you start by speaking  to Jim Lawless, MBA , CLTC in the Wellness Village ParkinsonsResource.org/the-wellness-village/directory/lawless-mba where he has been a member since August 2019. He can educate and inform you about what your Long-Term Care Planning Options may be.