The Boomers Eldercare Handbook
Oh $@#!, My Parents Are Old!

(including valuable internet and other resources plus just about everything you need to know about shifting the cost of long term care)

Written by Lillian S. Kachmar, Esq. and John F. Steele
Email: lskachmar@cuvs.com; jsteele@cuvs.com

OVERVIEW

This comprehensive work addresses the many emotional, practical and financial facets of aging and eldercare, and is written in a casual and easy-to-read style by an attorney with an extensive background in health care and her husband. Together the authors, personally and professionally, have dealt with the critical issues of aging and caregiving during the last twenty years.

One of the most vexing problems of our aging society is funding the costs of required long term care of our seniors. The average cost of nursing home care is about $6,000 per month. However, many people are unpleasantly surprised when reality sets in and they must find a means of payment for required care of a parent. The elderly either must be prepared to personally fund all of the costs of their long term care needs, which may entail exhausting their financial resources, or find ways to shift the costs of such care.

Many people do not understand that Medicare and Medigap will pay almost nothing toward long term care, and that Medicaid is a form of welfare and is offensive to many middle class folks. The differences between Medicare and Medicaid are explained, and the complex rules of Medicaid eligibility are set forth, in easy-to-understand terms. Some common Medicaid planning tips are also included for those who may have to resort to government assistance if their elderly loved ones are to receive required long term care, hopefully without completely exhausting their personal resources and hard earned assets.

Insuring against financial risks is a common practice in our culture, and therefore long term care insurance policies are discussed in some detail as one way to meet these potential costs for those who have planned properly, have the financial resources to pay the premiums and are eligible for such coverage.

In addition to sources of payment for care, differences between Medicare and Medicaid and Medicaid planning, the book includes discussions of

* Caregiving and the impact on familial relationships
* Long distance caregiving
* Geriatric care managers
* Elder abuse and neglect
* Depression, moving, driving a car, and financial scams
* Activities of Daily Life, or when intervention may be necessary
* Alternate and supplemental living arrangements, including adult day care, retirement apartments, assisted living, home health care, continuing care communities
* Nursing homes, including what you need to know to assess them for suitability
* Malnutrition and bedsores
* Essential legal documents such as Durable Powers of Attorney and Living Wills, including descriptions and sample forms
* Hospice care, death and dying
* Grief
* Funerals and preneed contracts
* Estates
* Internet resources including government resources, health, geriatric care managers, home health care, caregiving and housing, and a variety of insurance and legal resources
* Reproduction of governmental checklists and eldercare resources
* Many other eldercare topics and issues

The work also explores in the context of eldercare how our society has been culturally downsized and how this phenomenon impacts the delivery of caregiving by adult children. The authors, in an effort to help alleviate the unavoidable guilt that traps many caregivers, provide practical survival tips and attempt to absolve caregivers who find that they must outsource caregiving duties if they are to maintain any sense of self.

When an elderly loved ones needs exceed the ability and emotional resources or time constraints of the caregiver, the only available and practical option may be to outsource some or all of the caregiving duties. This may include hiring professional caregivers to provide on site care in a parents or other relatives home, or geriatric care managers to assist in the development of a plan of care for an elderly loved one and the delivery of that care, which ultimately may require relocation of an elderly parent to a nursing home.

If you have aging parents or any interest in the topics of eldercare, aging and long term care, this book is for you!