Senior Living LIVE! Financial Resources to Pay for Senior Living

Video Transcription

- Hello everybody and welcome into Senior Living Live. My name is Melissa. As always, we appreciate you all taking the time to be with us for our final webinar of 2022 called Financial Resources to Pay for Senior Living. It's a webinar that will continue to build on our last topic about VA benefits. If you caught that webinar, our host today, she will be familiar to you. Emily Schwarz is back with us and she's got an excellent breakdown of the different ways that you can pay for senior living. She will be available to answer all of your questions at the end of her presentation. To be a part of the conversation, which of course we always want you to do, scroll down to the bottom of your screen where it says Q&A, type your questions out there and I will be happy to read those to Emily. As always, remember, you can remain anonymous. Emily, thank you so much for being back with us. We love having you on. I know this is going to be a lot of good information for our viewers. Take it away.

- Okay, well thank you for having me again. I'm so honored to be the last presentation of the year, and I'm excited to share about different ways that you can pay for senior living. So let's get started. So few introductions, I guess that would be just me. I am Emily Schwarz as I've been introduced. I am the VP of Sales for ElderLife Financial. I have a lot of experience with senior living, going back all the way to 2008, and in particular if you did catch that last webinar, a lot of expertise about VA benefits, which we are gonna go over today, in case you missed the last presentation, don't worry. What we're gonna do today is look at different resources, a few in particular that can help you pay for The Arbor Company. So first, as I mentioned, VA benefits for senior living, this is one of the least known and often misunderstood ways to pay for senior living. It is incredible. Then we're gonna talk about real estate solutions that ElderLife can assist you with, our long-term care insurance assistance if you have a long-term care insurance policy. And finally, we're gonna finish up with a little bit about the ElderLife Bridge Loan, which helps bridge the gap for all of these different resources, as well as a few other items that might be of interest to you. We're also gonna have an open Q&A session. Now throughout the presentation, I think there are some question slides, so I might pause along the way. It gives me an opportunity to take a breath. And if you do have a question, Melissa will read it to me at that point. If not, I'll stay on as long as you need to get your questions answered at the end of the presentation. So who is ElderLife Financial? Just to give you a little background about who we are, we were founded in 2000. And what we do for seniors and their loved ones is provide a free consultation about all the resources that you see on the left side of the screen. Many of these, as I just said, we are gonna go over. We are essentially a Financial Aid Office for Senior Living. So if you wanna try to explain us to a friend or family member, we help families that are moving into senior living understand different ways to pay for it, similar to a financial aid office at a university or a college. Almost everybody on this webinar today, I'm sure, has at some point touched a financial aid office at a college or university. We are the same thing for senior living. And what we're gonna ultimately try to do is expedite and simplify your transition or your loved one's transition into senior living. This doesn't have to be a complex and stressful process. We can help you understand how to make it as easy as possible. So with that, let's do a touch on VA benefits. Essentially what ElderLife is going to do for you is help simplify the application process and understanding what you're entitled to. So this screen shows the four monthly benefit amounts for 2023. And I know you're probably saying to yourself, Emily, it's only December 13th, 2022. Well, the benefit amounts actually went up effective December 1, 2022, and they jumped quite a bit from last year. 8.7% is what they increased because the VA typically mimics the Social Security COLA. So if you were familiar with this benefit, you're probably very happy with next year's numbers. A surviving spouse, typically the single woman, receives 1,432 a month. A single veteran, many times the single male, but could definitely be a single female veteran, received 2,229- Let me say that again, $2,229 a month. It's a tongue twister this year. And then a married veteran can receive one of two benefit amounts. They either receive 2,642, which is when the married veteran needs care at the community and he's married. He gets over $400 more than the single veteran, even if his spouse doesn't need care. And then there's the married veteran rate that many people are unfamiliar with. This is when the veteran is healthy, but the spouse needs care at The Arbor Company. The healthy veteran can ask the VA for assistance with his spouse's care costs and care needs and receive up to $1,750 a month. All of these benefits are paid tax-free and directly to the applicant, who is the veteran while he or she is living, and the spouse once he's deceased. Essentially this is over $31,000 a year to help pay for your care. So how do you qualify for these benefits? Well, you meet four areas of eligibility all at the same time. The VA looks at your military dates, your healthcare needs, your income and your assets. So let's dive into each of those a little bit more. The first criteria of the benefit is military. The VA wants to know that the veteran served at least one day of active duty during a wartime period. The dates that you see on the screen right now are the wartime periods that the VA recognizes. They're actually set aside by Congress. And so if you did happen to serve between these dates, unfortunately you are not considered a wartime veteran. Now, fortunately, most folks that are moving into senior living are wartime veterans or were married to one. And so the VA's looking for one active duty day during a wartime period, and a total of 90 active duty days. Those 90 don't even have to be in a row. It could be 30 days, 30 days, 30 days. That's still 90 active duty days, as long as one is during a period of war. You also need a discharge of anything other than dishonorable. Now all of this information will be found on the veteran's discharge papers. If you do not know where your loved one's discharge papers are, they can be ordered, and you can contact us for assistance with that. We're able to help you expedite your discharge papers, also known as a DD214 form out of the National Archives in about three to four weeks. So first and most important criteria is that you or a loved one was a wartime veteran. Second criteria of the benefit is actually the easiest. This is where the VA asks a physician to fill out a three page medical form. And that can be done by the community doctor, nurse practitioner, primary care physician, a VA doctor, but does not have to be a VA doctor, neurologist, whoever will be able to attest why you need to move into The Arbor Company. And so they're looking to see, do you need assistance with two activities of daily living or a cognitive impairment? It does not have to be both. So someone can meet this criteria if they need help just with a little shower assist. A shower assist means that the community is helping you with bathing and dressing. Bathing and dressing are two activities of daily living. You'll see that the others are toileting, feeding, transferring, ambulating. So essentially just getting a little help from an aid at the community is going to help you qualify for this benefit. Now, if your loved one has a cognitive impairment, dementia or Alzheimer's, that is enough to qualify for the benefit medically. You don't have to need ADL. So many people that have a cognitive impairment are able to take care of all of their activities of daily living, but they need to live at the community because they must live in a protected environment. We also see other diagnoses on the medical form like macular degeneration, essentially being legally blind, maybe having Parkinson's disease, or being post-stroke. All of those will help the VA adjudicator understand why you should meet the medical criteria. Third criteria of the benefit is income. The VA is looking at the household income minus the household medical expenses. So before we look at an equation, I wanna just make sure we understand what income is and what care expenses are. So income is any money that's coming in to help pay the invoice to The Arbor Company. And so that would be husband and wife, even if only one part of the couple needs care, they're going to count all incomes. So that's two social securities, maybe two pensions, any wages if one part of the couple is still working, any rental income, and any investment income, dividends and interest. So anything that can pay Arbor is an income. Now the great thing about this benefit and moving into The Arbor Company is that when you move in, your care expenses, your rent and care can be deducted from your income. So the VA will let you reduce your income with assisted living, with memory care, with adult daycare, home care, health insurance premiums, and long-term care insurance premiums if you're still paying them. Essentially the VA comes up with a new income for you. They look at your total income coming in, they subtract your total care expenses going out, and that is known as your IVAP, Income for VA Purposes. Here's how those calculations work. So most people, as I mentioned, moving into senior living get the full benefit. Let's say you're a family that has $4,600 coming in, and $6,000 going out, the VA is going to say that your net income is zero. Now we're all smart people on this call today. We know that this person actually is negative $1,400, but as soon as you hit zero, as soon as you spend all of your income on your care, the VA says you are entitled to one of those four full benefit amounts, the 1,432, all the way to the 2,642. Now if you are not spending all of your income, maybe you have a married couple. So we have two social securities, two pensions, lots of investment income, then the VA will award you a partial benefit. So in this situation, the second example, this family has $6,600 of income, but they're still spending the same fixed $6,000 on care. The VA will then determine that they have an additional, an extra positive net income of $600. Now I know that sounds very appealing, 'cause you probably have other expenses. You have to pay for your cell phone bill, your cable bill, your newspaper subscription, maybe you have credit card bills. But those are not medical expenses so they won't let you use them to reduce your income. If you have any positive net income after paying The Arbor Company and your health insurance expenses, then the VA will actually subtract it from your maximum benefit. So if this was a married couple that could have received 2,642, subtract $600 and the VA's going to give them 2,042. This is when I like to say to families, I would think about maybe moving into a nicer room. So instead of a studio, maybe move into a one bedroom. Instead of having your daughter help you with those ancillary services, that medication management, or shower assist, let the community do that. If you spend $600 more, you're gonna get $600 more. It's truly a win for you. You might as well maximize the benefit. But if you don't want to, you can certainly get a large partial benefit, or even a small one. Either way, that is great tax-free money that can help pay for your community. Last criteria of the benefit is countable net worth. The VA is going to look at all accounts that you and your spouse have that can pay for The Arbor Company before the VA wants to help you. Now this asset limit is actually very high. People think this benefit is like Medicaid where you have to be down to $2,000. Totally incorrect. This year you can have over $150,000 and still be eligible for this benefit. So there are lots of people that are eligible and don't even realize it. So what do they count into the 150? They look at all bank accounts, CDs, annuities, IRAs, 401Ks, stocks, bonds, anything you can sell or liquidate. Now what they don't count, which is wonderful, is a primary residence. So let's say you have a home, and maybe your kids or your grandkids are living in it, maybe you're renting it. Maybe we have one part of a couple remaining at home and the other person moving into the community. A home is an exempt asset unless you sell it. So if you do sell your home, then the VA is going to count whatever proceeds you get at closing, and we'll talk about that in a second. But in general, you can have a home worth a million dollars if that's what you're fortunate enough to have, and 150,538 other dollars and still be eligible for the benefit. Now they don't count your burial policies, which are also known as prepaid funerals, final expense policies. They don't count vehicles or personal property. Now if you are selling your home, which many people do before they move into The Arbor Company, you still wanna connect with us, because we will be able to help you understand how you can remain eligible after selling that home. It is possible, but we really need to work with you prior to selling the home, because we don't want mom and dad to get a $500,000 check. If you are over the asset limit, there is possibility to do VA planning, similar to Medicaid planning, but you are going to need to do that VA planning appropriately, again, we can make some referrals for you, and before you apply. There is a three year lookback with this benefit. So likely the advice that we're gonna give is that you need to wait until to do your planning and then apply. But I don't wanna deep dive into that. We will encourage you no matter what your assets are, what your income is to give us a call and check out your four criteria. So a little bit about retroactive benefits. This is a great thing about this benefit. The VA will actually pay backwards. So let's say you apply this month, or submit an intent to file. Now the intent to file is a one page form. It'll take you five minutes and by submitting a one page form the intent to file by December 30th, the last business day of the month, the VA will then pay you backwards if you're eligible, starting January 1. So it's not the last day of the month, it's always the last business day of the month. The VA will backdate to the first of the following month. So if you just moved into Arbor Company, if you think you're moving in this month, if you think you're moving in next month, you must get that intent to file form in so you don't lose any months of benefits. Then when you're approved, let's say in April, you're gonna receive a retroactive check for January, February, March, April, and it'll probably come towards the end of April or May. You're gonna get all of that money back, and that's a great thing. You're not losing out on anything while you're waiting for the claim to be approved. So some challenges with the VA benefit, which I'm sure you already know and why you got on today. First of all, understanding who's eligible, and how much are you gonna receive. The other problem is in order to apply for this benefit, you need to incur care expenses. You have to show on the application who you're paying for care, hopefully The Arbor Company and but you don't have the money. So you've gotta move in, show that you're paying for care while you're waiting for the VA benefits to be approved. Kind of like a Catch 22. You also need to get that intent to file form in as soon as possible, and then you have to fill out the 30 page VA application, which is quite a bear. So how do we help families with that? ElderLife has a VA Benefits Department called aidandattendance.com and what we can do when you call into ElderLife is connect you with our VA Benefits team. That team is gonna help you over the phone, figure out whether you're eligible. So they're gonna take you through those four criteria that I just did with you. Then we're gonna talk with you about our online software for VA benefits. So many of you have used tax preparation software. Frankly, you do it every year. You're only gonna need to do this once. We have an online software to help you do that 30 page application, even help you do that intent to file form in about five minutes. We will make sure that that application gets done correctly, and a correct application will go through the VA in the fastest amount of time possible. We have multiple filing options, do it yourself version, we have a full support version. We can even refer people to a VA accredited attorney if you don't wanna handle it at all. And lastly at ElderLife, we have a Bridge Loan, and we're gonna dive into that towards the end of this. But remember I talked about that Catch 22, you've gotta be paying for care in order to apply, but you might not have the extra income to pay for the care. Well we have a Bridge Loan at ElderLife, and we're able to help people with those funds, with those months while you're waiting for the VA to approve you with that extra income that you need. We actually lend you the exact amount of the VA benefit. So whatever amount you're gonna get back, we're gonna lend you that amount of money. And then when you receive that retroactive payment that I explained, you can use it to repay the Bridge Loan. So it's a perfect marriage of VA benefits and the ElderLife Bridge Loan. With that, I'm gonna take a pause, and I do see we have two questions in the Q&A that maybe Melissa can read to me.

- Yeah, we can go ahead and get to those. So one that we had a couple of questions submitted prior to the webinar, so we're gonna get to those first. And this is a good time that if you do have questions now, to go ahead and get those into Emily so we can sort of break down questions with each topic. So we'll start with a question here. Does a veteran spouse and a nursing home qualify for the VA aid and attendance benefit? Emily?

- So a nursing home would count. I know I didn't have that as one of the bullets, but any money that you're paying out of your pocket counts as a medical expense. So the big question with the nursing home is, are you paying out of your own pocket, or is Medicare, Medicaid, some other source paying for the nursing home? So as long as you're paying out of pocket, you can use it as a medical expense deduction for this benefit.

- Great. The next question, if so, are there any financial restrictions for Aid and Attendance for a veteran spouse in a nursing home, i.e. income, net worth, et cetera, maybe going a little bit further into detail on that.

- So I think we covered a lot of that, and I know this question was submitted before you heard me talk, so no problem at all. So there is no income criteria. It's really how much of your income are you spending on your care. And as we looked at those two equations, usually people are spending all of their income on care. So really your income could be really high, as long as you're spending the same amount at the community, which I suggest then maybe looking at a two bedroom. If you have really high income, you wanna spend all of your income on your care. Assets, the asset limit is $150,538. So you don't wanna apply with more than that. If you are fortunate and you have more than that, still give us a call and we can help you understand how to do some appropriate VA planning to apply in the future.

- Great. And we'll start from the order that we got the questions. So Tom's question came in first. You can wait until the end of the session, but can we get a copy of the presentation? I cannot write quick enough, Tom.

- So we're not gonna send out the slides, but I know Melissa and The Arbor Company is going to have a link to the recording, so you can watch me multiple times. But we're not gonna send out the slides per se.

- Yes, so Tom and everybody watching, you'll get a link to this webinar starting tomorrow in the email you use to RSVP. So you can watch it over and over again, send it to your friends, send it to family members, send it to whomever you want. So hopefully that answers that question. Daniel wants to know, VA asset limit of not more than 150,538. For example, if net worth is 1.5 million, and home is 350,000, it would appear that they would not be approved for VA benefits.

- So you are correct Daniel, you are obviously listening very carefully. If your assets are over the 150,538, you're not eligible today. Yes, we could give you some advice and connect you with experts to do VA planning, but no, you are not eligible today. The home at $350,000 is an exempt asset as long as you don't sell it. If you sell it then you're gonna add another 350 to your asset issue. But certainly that could all be handled at the same time. So I would recommend giving us a call, which I will provide information at the end of how to reach us. And we'd be happy to connect you with people that know how to solve that problem.

- Great, couple of questions from Kim here. My dad is the veteran who meets all criteria minus the health, and my mom is the non-veteran who has Alzheimer's but isn't a veteran. They meet the other asset slash income criteria. They both want to move to Arbor together. Will they get the VA benefit?

- So that situation sounds like the married veteran, where the veteran is healthy, and the spouse needs care. So if you meet all the criteria, or let's say mom really meets all the criteria 'cause she's got the health criteria, the maximum they would receive right now is $1,750 a month. So my quick diagnosis would be yes, dad should apply, VA will give him money based on mom's care needs and care costs, and it looks like it would be 1,750. Now if dad's care decreases, if all of a sudden he needs more help in the future as we all do, he can ask the VA for the higher married veteran amount, which is 2,642, or it'll go up for the 2024, whenever he's gonna need that care. So I would recommend also giving us a call and We'll get you started on that. That's my quick assessment of 1,750.

- And she does follow up. What is the cost of getting help from ElderLife to apply for the VA benefit?

- So ElderLife's VA Benefits department has two online softwares. We start at $199 to use the software yourself, and if you want full support, someone helping you answer the questions, reviewing your application, we actually have a customer-only phone line for people with the premium support. That is an additional $300, so it's 499 to do the software and get the premium support. Less than a month of benefits.

- Great. Kim, I hope that that answers your questions. Please feel free to add more in the Q&A box if you have them. Next question from Michael. My aunt lives in Tucson, Arizona, I live in Florida. She is 95 years old and about to move into an assisted living community. Both her husbands were veterans and are now deceased. Can I fill out her forms for her even though I don't live with or near her?

- Yes, actually that's the beauty of the software. You can be on totally different coasts and help her fill out the application. She is ultimately going to need to sign it however. So you're going to need to get that paperwork somehow either by mail or maybe wherever she's living at the community could print it out for her, and have her sign it and fax it over to the VA. Now I do remember you said there were two husbands. It is important to know that she is applying on the last husband. So whatever the last marriage is, and I don't think I discussed this, but our team will help you with understand this. The last husband has to be the wartime veteran, and that is who she's gonna apply upon.

- Okay, that is really good information to know, and one of those little nuggets that kind of comes out with a question, right Emily? I love that.

- Exactly.

- So Rena wants to know, my 80 year old mother is currently in memory care at assisted living, but I may move her to a nursing home at some point so she doesn't run out of money. My understanding is that I can work with an attorney to protect her assets for when she goes to a nursing home, but that will take about two years, and in the meantime we will be paying full price for the nursing home, but Medicare will retroactively reimburse. Is that right, and will it go back that full two years or more if it takes longer? Thanks.

- Okay, so I think what you're asking about is becoming eligible for Medicaid, not Medicare. It sounds like you are talking with an attorney about Medicaid planning, and that's usually the words are so similar. I do not believe, and I am not an attorney, so I'm gonna tell you to defer to that person, that there is any retroactive money when you get on Medicaid. So it sounds like she's talking about doing some asset planning to be eligible for Medicaid in less than the five year look back, instead more like two years, which is possible, but I don't believe there's going to be any retroactive funds from Medicaid. Once they hit the spend down limit and the timeframe, they will allow mom to have her care paid for by Medicaid. But I would suggest definitely working with an attorney and a Medicaid expert if you really wanna understand how to get her eligible for that program.

- Great, okay. And Kim follows up, thank you. Can people try the Elder Law do-it-yourself software to see how that goes, and then move to the premium if we can't complete it well enough independently?

- Absolutely, Kim, you ask great questions, really. Yes, so we do have families that start at using the do-it-yourself software, and then there's a way to upgrade. You would just call us back and you would upgrade if you want that additional support. I think this is a good opportunity also to say though, and I think I may have left this out before, you can call ElderLife and have a free consultation about this benefit and this resource as well as everything else I'm gonna share with you, again for nothing, for free. If you choose to use our VA benefits software, that is the only time you are going to be paying the 199 or the 499. So I don't want anyone to hesitate to give us a call to even see if they're eligible. That's a really important thing that people do for nothing.

- Gotcha, and Rena did follow up and say, yes, it was Medicaid not Medicare. So good catch on that, Emily. John asks, can a POA sign the application for VA benefits?

- So unfortunately, a POA cannot sign the application for VA benefits. I know that's very counterintuitive, especially when you have someone with a cognitive impairment, but you do need the veteran or spouse to sign on their own. If you absolutely cannot, then there can be an X with two witnesses, but even just a chicken scratch handwriting is fine. So see if you can get the senior to sign.

- Great. And then the last one here from anonymous, if I've been appointed to the general, appointed the general durable POA for my 92 year old mother with dementia who was just admitted to a memory care facility, can I sign the VA application for her?

- Just by chance, Anonymous and John asked the same questions back to back. So unfortunately, no. The VA does not accept a power of attorney. So you wanna have the senior sign in any way you can, and if not, there is actually a spot on the main application, not the intent to file, for an X with two witnesses.

- Gotcha. All right, great questions everybody so far. We're gonna go to the next topic. I will go away and we'll come back anytime you have questions that may pop up. As Emily is speaking, put them in the Q&A box and we'll read them at the next Q&A breakdown. Thanks Emily.

- Okay, thanks. All right, well those are great questions everyone, and if something comes to mind about VA benefits and doesn't mean that I'm not gonna answer it for you, I'll answer it at the very end, so you can still shoot it in and Melissa will give it to me later. Okay, let's talk about another resource that people use to pay for senior living. So real estate, that is the number one way people pay for senior living. I know that we had a lot of questions and interests about VA benefits, but most people on this call are actually in their own home right now. And so how does ElderLife help you maximize my home? That's the big question. Well, as I was starting to say, 50% of seniors are moving from their home into a community. That's how the transition happens. Either you have moved from your main home, maybe a few years ago into something smaller, or this is the time you're making that big move, from the home that you've lived in for 20, 30, 40, maybe 50 years. It is a senior's greatest asset, and typically the way they're gonna pay for the community. Now, as you know, I'm sure nobody hasn't heard this news, but interest rates went up quite a few times, and what that caused to happen in the real estate market is that it is significantly slowing. Homes are not flying off the market as they have been for the last couple years. And in fact, mortgage applications, new mortgage applications are at a 22 year low. So I know you were thinking, I'm going to use my home to pay for my senior living, but who is going to be buying my home? How long is it going to take? Then you're probably also thinking to yourself, wow, this is going to be a challenge getting mom or dad moved out of their home. And that's true because it's more complex selling a senior's home. There's multiple decision makers. I know in my family we have my dad, and then my brother and I, we live in different states. The same thing is probably your situation. We all have different opinions of how that home sale should go, what the price should be, how much we should put into that house before it goes on the market. And if you're living in different areas of the country, you're not even looking at each other face to face. Lastly, if someone's been living in a home for 20, 30, 40 years, there's probably a lot of clutter to remove. I mean, I've lived in my home for 20 years and I know I have a lot of clutter to remove and I'm not even a senior citizen yet. So there are complexities to selling a senior's home. We know that those complexities mean that sometimes it's gonna take over six months for that home to sell. You've gotta do home preparation, such as sorting the belongings, who's taking those family heirlooms, cleaning, getting new carpet, getting new paint on the walls, maybe major repairs that have to be done before you list it, and finally getting that offer and going to closing. So it really can take over six months to get a senior's home sold. So ElderLife help seniors with their homes. And what we do is we have a national network of senior real estate agents. And we're able to connect families in just about any market, with real estate agents that we trust, and we know how to sell a senior's home. They cannot only help them get it listed for the top dollar, but maybe you've already talked to an agent. We can even help you with a free market analysis and a comparison to maybe somebody that you've already spoken with. And our real estate agents know how to do everything needed. Packing, moving, estate sale coordination, transportation from one side of the country to the other. We can help you with that. And finally, we have the ElderLife Bridge Loan, that's senior living loan assistance. Remember, I said homes are taking six months to sell. You need that money to move into the community tomorrow. So how are we gonna help with that? So we have a Bridge Loan for selling a home. We provide funds immediately for care. If you wanna move today, you wanna move next month, we're able to provide money to the community to pay for your care while you're waiting for your home to sell. We will allow you to borrow based on the equity in the home. We wanna make sure that it's a loan that you're gonna be able to repay. And when you sell that home, you're just gonna use those home proceeds to repay the Bridge Loan, similar to the way you could do that with VA benefits, with a retroactive check. So this is a shorter section. I know the VA benefits was a little bit longer. I will pause, sorry to bother you again, Melissa, I think I see one question about real estate.

- You said POA can't sign, what about legal guardian? This was from the last--

- Yes, about VA benefits. I would say the same, that you do need the senior signing. There are some additional forms if you absolutely can't have them sign it, it's not really how our software works. I would recommend giving us a call if you really wanna talk about what alternatives are. Usually people can get the senior to sign their own VA application. Okay, next question.

- Yep, what is the interest we need to pay on that Bridge Loan?

- Excellent question. So interest on a Bridge Loan is typically 9.99%. That will be discussed with you when you speak with our financial concierge. They will go over all of the interest on the loan, as well as the criteria to qualify. But yes, 9.99% is our typical interest rate.

- Perfect, all right, continue Emily. Thank you.

- Okay, thanks. All right, let's move on to long-term care insurance. So those of you that have a long-term care insurance policy, that is a fantastic way to pay for senior living. I'll speak again firsthand, I helped my mom with her long-term care insurance policy for five years. It really helped pay for her care, but it was a bear to manage. So, let's talk a little bit about why long-term care insurance policies are so challenging. First of all, the policies usually have outdated terminology. Many of these policies were written 30, 40 years ago. And just we as people and the senior living industry use totally different terms than what was offered when that policy was written. Calling the long-term care insurance policy can mean hours on the phone. I've done it, I put 'em on speaker phone while I continued to do my work, because I knew I would be waiting and transferred, and waiting and transferred. It is hard to get the right contact and the answers you need. Claimants, meaning the people that are asking their long-term care insurance policies to pay them are not usually very versed in the maximizing benefits. Frankly, it's the first time they've ever done it. So how would they be an expert on it? Some families have the challenge like I did where I had never read my mom's long-term care insurance policy. I had no idea how it was gonna work, and what it was gonna pay for. Then we have the financial challenge, which is most policies have a 30 to 180 day elimination period, which means even when you qualify, they're not gonna provide you any funds for the first month to six months. But of course you need the care today. And then we have some state laws that actually override the policy term. So it's just a whole confusing situation. So how do we help families with long-term care insurance? First of all, we provide a free policy review. That way you know who, what and when that policy is going to pay out, and what's the likelihood of it's going to pay for The Arbor Company. So rather than asking your senior living director, your sales manager that you've been working with and gone on tours with to understand your policy, just contact us. We have experts that know how to do that. We will then help you understand how to handle every aspect of the claim process. We have partners that can help you obtain medical records and provider records. We can help you reduce those mistakes and get that claim initialized as soon as possible. And also another great benefit of working with us is maybe we can actually go back 24 months. Sometimes there's a medical trigger that will help you get an average refund of $23,000. People don't realize that sometimes they were already eligible for their benefits. And by triggering the policy sooner, you're likely to save up to $15,000 instead of having that three to six month elimination period. Imagine if you could get the policy to pay sooner, you would be paying less out of your own pocket for those first few months at The Arbor Company. So, questions about long-term care insurance? I don't see any. So just in the interest of everyone's time, I'm going to keep going, and we're gonna talk a little bit about the Bridge Loan that can also help bridge the gap for people that have long-term care insurance and they're waiting out the elimination period. So I mentioned at the beginning of this presentation that ElderLife is a free financial consultation, and we talk about everything within this heart. And I know I've covered a number of them with you already. Long-term care insurance we just did, real estate and finding a really qualified senior real estate specialist to help you with the sale and moving process. We did a lot on VA benefits already, although I'm still happy to answer more questions. We haven't talked about life insurance. So you might have a life insurance policy that you're considering lapsing, or maybe you don't need anymore. You can actually sell your life insurance on the open market and maximize what you can get for that policy. Then you can take those dollars and use it to pay for The Arbor Company. So don't just let a policy lapse. Let's see if we can help you get some dollars from that asset that you've been paying into all those years. Tax deductions, we do talk with families and we provide you documentation to take to your tax preparer about how the cost of senior living, the cost of assisted living and memory care is actually tax deductible. People don't realize that anything that is, any money that is paid to a licensed facility to treat, cure, or prevent injury or illness, which is exactly what The Arbor Company does for you, is tax deductible. By writing that cost off your taxes, you're actually reducing the cost of your senior living rent and care by 20 to 25%. And lastly, reverse mortgages. So sometimes we have a couple where one part of the couple wants to remain at home, and one part of the couple needs to move in. Maybe a reverse mortgage is the right option for you. And again, we can connect you with people that know how to help you through that reverse mortgage process when it's appropriate. So I've talked about Bridge Loan Bridge Loan a number of times. The ElderLife Bridge Loan essentially bridges the gap from the time the senior needs the care and wants the care, to the time they can afford the care. Here's a few features and benefits about the Bridge Loan. So as I've said, you can use that Bridge Loan to move into The Arbor Company immediately. We are really able to move quickly if you need to move quickly. We can then buy the family time and flexibility to make the best decisions. You can maximize the value of your home, fix up the home. Don't sell it to an investor. Get that 10 to 50,000 extra dollars that you can use later in months ahead for your senior living community. We can provide money now so you can apply for the VA benefit. Remember, you've gotta be paying for care in order to apply for the benefit, the Catch 22. And you don't have to ask your kids for contributions during that first three to six months. I know that's a difficult conversation. It would be in my house as well. And sometimes the kids can't afford it, and that's okay. We can help with solving that problem. We have a very free and easy application process. You can either go to our website, which I'll give you the address, and do your application online, or just give us a call and we'll walk you through the entire Bridge Loan application over the phone. We can fund Bridge Loans in as little as 24 hours. So if you need to move fast, we can move fast. If you don't wanna move fast, we'll move at the pace that you wanna move. We can also provide additional funds for moving expenses, home repairs, and even that initial community fee. We will roll all of that into the Bridge Loan and provide you what you need to make a smooth transition. So I think many of you have already asked your questions, but I see one more in there that you might have, and then I'll give you some information about how to reach us.

- Yeah, it's from Michael. I understand that long-term care insurance on the average lasts about five years. What happens if you live longer than five years? Where do you go if you no longer can pay for the care you're getting?

- So you are correct. Long-term care insurance typically has a maximum. It's either dollars or maximum amount of time. So whichever your policy has, and again, that's what we can help you understand how long it's going to last based on how much you're going to be spending. But to answer your second question, after your long-term care insurance policy runs out, you might wanna look at VA benefits if that's an option. Sometimes people can get them at the same time, depending on the math equation. If your long-term care runs out and you are not eligible for VA benefits, if you do not have a home to sell or any other assets, you are going to wanna look at Medicaid as someone asked about earlier. So we can make a referral for assistance with Medicaid, but that's not our primary assistance. So when your long-term care policy runs out, if you still need care and you no longer have any funds, Medicaid would be an option for you. And that is managed by whatever state you're in. There is state Medicaid.

- Yeah, and he just wanna know, do all assisted living communities accept long-term care?

- So long-term care typically will either pay the community or they will reimburse you. So I would really recommend getting that free policy review. It depends actually more than whether the community will accept the money paid by your long-term care, and whether your long-term care will pay for assisted living. Some long-term care policies, remember I said, are outdated. They might only pay for home care, they might only pay for a nursing home. So you wanna check what your policy's rules are. The assisted living is usually more than happy to accept the funds from a long-term care insurance policy, either directly, or you pay and then you get reimbursed yourself by your long-term care.

- Gotcha. All right, we've got about 15 more minutes. We will take this to the top of the hour, as we do with all of our webinars. So if you have a question for Emily on all of the topics we've discussed, this is a great time to get it in. Emily, while we're waiting for more questions if our viewers have those, that was gonna be the next question, is how can we connect with you.

- We work together too often. I know what's coming next. So how do you reach ElderLife? So we've got a couple of ways to reach ElderLife. So the first thing you can do is email us. Obviously you're all tech savvy, you got on the Zoom today, which you know for me sometimes is a big accomplishment. So all you need to do is email arborcompany@elderlifefinancial.com. And Financial Concierge will reach out to you. I know it's the evening, so they may be reaching out to you tomorrow, but we will reach out to you tomorrow for sure if not this evening. You can also give us a call. This is our family line, 888 228 4500. You're welcome to give us a ring now or again tomorrow. And you'll be reaching out to a financial concierge who can walk you through all of those things that I showed you in the heart. Finally, again, if you like the internet, you can hop right on to elderlifefinancial.com, learn a little bit more about us, look at the Bridge Loan application. And so these are three excellent ways to connect with us and start that conversation with your financial concierge. I do also like to tell families that we are based out of Tennessee. So when that phone call comes in, it is going to be from a 615 area code. I know we're all used to getting spam calls. 615 tomorrow or this evening is not a spam call. So please answer your 615 area code phone calls and we would be thrilled to go over all your resources with you.

- Perfect, and this is a follow up from Michael. He said, so can I call ElderLife Financial and you'll review it for me? He was the one asking about long-term care insurance.

- Yes. So you're gonna call ElderLife Financial, and we are gonna connect you with our partner for long-term care insurance. And yes, we will get that reviewed for you, and you will understand how it's going to pay out. I think that's an incredibly smart first step. There's absolutely no cost for that free policy review. You need to understand what that policy is gonna pay for before you make a commitment to a community.

- Yeah, and going back to the Bridge Loan as well, just wanna reiterate that ElderLife Financial is the only person that offers that, right? That is, you're not gonna get that anywhere else. That is one stop shop for that, that particular item of need that people may have when they're trying to, maybe in between trying to sell their home and then get to the community they really need the help in.

- Yeah, that's what we specialize in. We are able to make these loans so quickly because we're actually lending our own funds. So we're gonna talk with your family and we're gonna figure out how can we expedite this as fast as you need it. So sometimes we're able to do it in the same day, which I find amazing and wonderful. Many times people need senior living in an urgent situation. Maybe you're coming from a hospitalization, or a nursing home stay, or rehab, and you're getting discharged. You didn't even realize you were getting discharged tomorrow, but they want you out before the holidays. We're able to work with you. We'll work as fast as you need to work.

- Yeah, that's great. And then Michael just says, thank you very much. A great help to me as well as all of the others who have joined in. I agree. That's why we love having Emily on, she knows her stuff. It is rapid fire, and it is all the information you need for the topics that she is always here to help discuss with us. And for that, we're always so thankful. Emily, as we wind down here, I do have a question. You know, we had the the question about the wife who was married to two veterans, and the little nugget that you gave us, where she needs to look at what the benefits are for the last husband that she was married to. Any other little nuggets like that, that sort of the rule in addition to the rule that you come across with with people?

- Yeah, one of the topics that I hear a lot, and so I'm glad that you bring that up. I wish I had said it before, but now is a good time. The veteran has to have served during war time, but they don't have to be boots on the ground. So people always think that they have to have served in Korea, in Vietnam, that's not correct. You just need to have served during the Korean war time, during the Korean conflict, or the Vietnam era, or World War II. You can be in any country, even the United States, and still be eligible for the benefit, as long as you're active duty during the war time period, and have a total of 90 active duty days. So that's one of those common misunderstandings. Another one, and I think I may have touched on this, is people think that they need to have a VA doctor fill out their medical form. That's not true either. Any doctor can fill it out. And in fact, people also think that they need to already be receiving benefits from the VA. That's not correct either. Most of our veterans and spouses that contact us for assistance have not communicated with the VA since they discharged. That's totally fine. So every veteran and spouse should explore their options for VA benefits, even if you've never called the VA since you left service.

- Great. Yeah, and Kim just wants to add, thank you for all this very clear. It's obviously got substance, such a big help. As always, Emily, thank you. Anything else you feel like our viewers should know before we let them go?

- I think just explore all your options, from someone who has done this herself, you've gotta turn over every leaf. And that's what ElderLife has been doing since 2000. We're helping families move into communities in the timeframe that they need. So keep digging, take a look at everything that we have to offer. Don't give up. Senior living is a wonderful place. Just personally speaking, I got five extra years with my mom because she was in senior living. I do truly believe in it. So I hope that you have the same wonderful experience and reach out to my team. They're great, they'll walk you through everything that you need.

- Yeah, absolutely. And we just want to reiterate and inform everybody once again that this particular webinar will be available starting tomorrow. The link will be sent to the email you use to RSVP, so be sure to check that out tomorrow. You can share that link with anybody you feel who could use this particular information. Emily, we thank you so much. Every time you come on here, somebody walks away with a little bit more knowledge that they didn't have just the hour before. And so we thank you so much for providing this knowledge today, and the resources to pay for senior living to our viewers.

- My pleasure. Have a really happy holiday and Happy New Year everyone.

- Yes. And thank you for closing out the year with us with great information. Of course, who doesn't wanna know how to pay for senior living? Now for those of you watching, if you enjoyed this video with Emily, or if you missed her last webinar that was all about VA benefits, head on over to our website. It's www.seniorlivinglive.com. All of our videos there are free, and they're of course all about senior living. Thank you so much for taking your time to be with us today. Happy holidays, Happy New Year. Have a great day everybody.