Elder care costs keep climbing; nursing home bill now $91K

[No Vested Interest]

21. There are attorneys who advise clients on how to protect

assets legally so that they will qualify for Medicaid, and supposedly have something to leave for their families.

I have to wonder if they tell the clients that Medicaid will take all of their Social Security payment, except for $40, which the person has for personal expenses - clothing, hairdo and cuts, personal and sanitary products, etc. (hat was the amount a few yeas ago when a relative was in a Medicaid facility.)

I'll admit the family was decent enough, though the relative had to spend her last years sharing a room with someone she would not have chosen. Family paid for some of her extras - a phone, hair cuts, and her brother and I sent a modest check monthly.

My personal opinion is that these attorneys who advocate impoverishing oneself to qualify for Medicaid are not only doing the client a disservice, but are helping the client skirt the intent of the law and thereby cheating the balance of the American population who are paying the unnecessary cost. If a person has the funds to pay for nursing care, that's what the money was earned and saved for, not for the inheritance of children and others. I do not include the spouse, as I believe the spouse should be protected and not left impoverished by the illness of the patient.