Long-Term Care Planning for Seniors and Their Families
The best time for long-term care planning is before a crisis. Dave Brandt helps your family understand how to pay for care, how your parent would qualify for it, and what to do first, so you have a plan to follow when the time comes.
Why Plan for Long-Term Care Before You Need It
Most families start thinking about long-term care the week something goes wrong. By then, choices are made in a hurry, under pressure, and often in the wrong order. Savings get spent that could have been protected, and the family argues over decisions no one has time to think through.
Planning ahead changes that. You decide where your parent would want to receive care, how the family will pay for it, and who will make decisions if your parent can't. Those answers are much easier to find while everyone is calm.
Not sure where to begin? Start with a no-fee conversation, and Dave will walk you through the first questions.
How Families Pay for Long-Term Care
Most families use more than one source. The plan sets the order, so savings last as long as possible and nothing gets missed.
Savings and income
Most care starts with private pay. The plan shows how long savings and income can cover care, and what comes next.
A policy you already own
If your parent has long-term care insurance, Dave helps you understand what it covers and when it starts paying.
VA benefits
Veterans and surviving spouses may qualify for help paying for care. An accredited representative on Dave's team handles VA claims.
Medicaid
Medicaid is the only government program that pays for long-term nursing home care. Planning ahead protects more of what your family has.
Bridge financing
Benefits can take time to start. The plan covers how to pay for care while you wait.
How Someone Qualifies for Long-Term Care
Qualifying has two sides: how much care your parent needs, and how that care will be paid for. Dave helps your family understand both before you need them.
The care need
Care settings and benefit programs look at how much help a person needs with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, and eating, or with memory.
The care setting
Assisted living, memory care, and nursing homes each assess a new resident's needs before move-in, to confirm they can provide the right level of care.
The money side
Each way to pay has its own rules. Policies have conditions before they pay, VA benefits have service and income rules, and Medicaid has income and asset limits.
25 Years Inside Long-Term Care
Dave Brandt held senior leadership roles with the long-term care insurance divisions of General Electric and John Hancock, two of the largest long-term care insurers in the nation.
He knows how long-term care gets paid for, and where families get stuck. Today he uses that experience for one purpose: helping your family plan for care and the cost of it.
How Dave Builds a Long-Term Care Plan With You
The work follows the same order for every family.
- Talk with DaveTell Dave about your parent's health, home, and finances, by phone or video. The first conversation is at no charge.
- Review what you haveDave looks at savings, income, insurance, and legal documents to see what is already in place.
- Build the planYou get a plan for where care happens, how it gets paid for, how your parent would qualify, and what to do first.
- Share it with familyEveryone knows the plan and their role, so no one is guessing when the time comes.
Long-Term Care Planning Questions
When should we start long-term care planning?
Before a crisis, if you can. Planning early keeps the most options open for care, money, and the family home. If care is already needed, Dave works with families in the middle of a crisis too.
How does someone qualify for long-term care?
There are two sides. The care side looks at how much help a person needs with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, and eating, or with memory. The money side looks at how the care will be paid for: savings, an existing policy, VA benefits, or Medicaid, each with its own rules. Dave helps your family work through both.
Does Medicare pay for long-term care?
Generally, no. Medicare does not pay for long-term custodial care, such as help with bathing and dressing in assisted living or a nursing home. It may cover a short stay in a skilled nursing facility after a qualifying hospital stay. That gap is why families plan ahead.
My parent already has a long-term care policy. Can Dave review it?
Yes. Dave spent years in senior leadership with the long-term care insurance divisions of General Electric and John Hancock. He can help you understand what your parent's policy covers, when it starts paying, and how it fits into the rest of the plan.
What does long-term care planning cost?
Your first conversation is always at no charge. After that, Dave charges by the hour or a flat fee, depending on what your family needs, and he tells you which one applies before any work starts.
Why Trust LifeCare Senior Advocates
Dave Brandt brings more than 25 years in long-term care and works for families, not facilities. LifeCare Senior Advocates is veteran-owned and based in Walnut, Iowa.
Dave Brandt is a licensed insurance agent. LifeCare Senior Advocates is not a law firm and does not provide legal or investment advice.
Start Your Family's Plan
Talk with Dave about long-term care while you still have every option open. Your first conversation is always at no charge.
Dave Brandt is a licensed insurance agent. LifeCare Senior Advocates is not a law firm and does not provide legal or investment advice.