Medicaid Planning

Medicare vs. Medicaid

Medicare is an entitlement program designed to pay for hospital care and physician services for short-term needs. It is not long-term care insurance and does not cover custodial or long-term medical care. 

Medicaid is a federal- and state-run program that may pay for nursing home care if you qualify, but successfully applying for Medicaid benefits requires preparation. It is a complex process that must follow your state’s laws.

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Proactive Medicaid Planning

Proactive Medicaid Planning is a legal strategy to help pay for the high cost of different long-term care services. You or a loved one can be injured or become ill and require long-term care at any age, but the potential is even greater as we age and health declines. The cost of this extended care can be shocking, which leads to concern over how much of your savings and hard-earned assets will be compromised to pay for it. At Burr Law, we help you understand your options for paying for long-term care, which includes Medicaid

Why Should You Use Medicaid?

Medicaid was created to provide medical assistance to low-income individuals, people with disabilities, and seniors who need help with long-term care expenses. Many people believe they will only qualify after losing their homes and other valuable assets first. But it is possible to meet eligibility requirements by restructuring financial assets instead. To do this, Medicaid planning is critical.

Being Proactive Means Starting Early

Early planning will enable you to keep your home or preserve it for your family while meeting the qualifications for Medicaid coverage. Estate planning attorneys at Burr Law help you make sense of Colorado’s Medicaid program to help pay for future care. We use legal tools to shelter countable assets and preserve them for you and your family.

Tools we may use to create your Medicaid plan include:

– Irrevocable trusts – Property placed in an irrevocable trust is legally excluded from your countable assets when determining Medicaid eligibility. A specialized trust used for Medicaid qualification is called a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT).

– Revocable trusts – While a revocable trust (also called a “living trust” won’t provide asset protection for Medicaid purposes, it is often part of a complete estate plan to ensure proper handling of your assets during and after your lifetime.

– Financial Power of Attorney – Where appropriate, we use powers of attorney to allow trustees to modify your trust as needed if you no longer have the capacity to make those decisions yourself.

Burr Law combines legal strategies to rearrange your finances and shelter significant assets to meet the Colorado Medicaid look-back period. It requires planning at least five years before any potential need for long-term care. The state of Colorado will check to see how assets were transferred or gifted during that period. With experienced attorneys, you can avoid accidental disqualification and preserve more of your estate for you and your family members.

Crisis Medicaid Planning

An unexpected injury or illness could require the immediate need of long-term care. When you are suddenly facing a medical emergency, crisis planning helps you and your family make the best possible medical and financial decisions for long-term care needs. When this happens, a family member is already in the process of transferring to a nursing home or making arrangements for in-home care. Qualifying for Medicaid to offset astronomical medical costs is urgent.

Why Should You Use Medicaid?

Medicaid was created to provide medical assistance to low-income individuals, people with disabilities, and seniors who need help with long-term care expenses. Many people believe they will only qualify after losing their homes and other valuable assets. But it is possible to meet eligibility requirements by restructuring financial assets instead. In a crisis, qualifying for Medicaid quickly is critical.

Moving Quickly in a Crisis

Unfortunately, some of your assets may be spent on health care expenses while your Medicaid application is prepared and before eligibility is determined. Our attorneys move fast to minimize the financial impact. Our experience with collecting and preparing documents and timely submission ensures you stay within the required asset limits and rules for Medicaid eligibility.

We help your family make difficult decisions about the level of care needed and what you can afford. A crisis plan ensures the best medical care possible while removing the uncertainty that can cause conflicts between family members.

At Burr Law, crisis management offers immediate advice and support to make hard decisions and find the right solutions for your urgent circumstances. We’re here to listen, educate, and help you resolve both short- and long-term issues.

With a deep understanding of Colorado Medicaid regulations, we help ensure you won’t exhaust all of your life savings on medical services. By avoiding accidental disqualification and delays in your application, we preserve more of your estate for you and your family members.

To schedule a free initial consultation, contact us or call 720-500-2076 .

Burr Law represents clients throughout the Denver metropolitan area with legal services including trusts and wills, asset planning protection, estate tax protection, special needs planning, trust administration, and personal injury law.