America Disagrees with Dave Ramsey on Nursing Home Expenses

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When seniors are either uninsurable for long term care insurance, or they make a conscious decision to avoid purchasing long term care insurance, they have a decision to make regarding potential future nursing home expenses.

And America disagrees with Dave Ramsey regarding his stance on paying for nursing home costs.

First of all, I like Dave Ramsey and his message regarding getting and staying out of debt. I also like his message about living within your means and saving for a rainy day. His message is contrary to the commercial messages people see and hear daily encouraging people to borrow and spend.

Dave Ramsey despises the estate tax. I'm sure Dave encourages all taxpayers to take advantage of tax laws like the mortgage interest deduction, the business expense deduction, and the charitable deduction to keep as much of their money in their pocket and send as little to the government for redistribution. Regarding the estate tax, I'm sure Ramsey would encourage people who are subject to the estate tax to give away as much as they can to avoid the 40% tax, and keep the family wealth "in the family."

But when it comes to nursing homes, Dave's advice is different. He suggests that you never take a penny out of your name, or re-title an account or an asset. He says if you have money you should spend it all on your care. Don't dare engage in any activity, even though it is permissible, to protect your estate from long term care costs, he says.

Here's an example. Let's say Couple A and Couple B live in the same street and all four individuals are 72 years old. Each couple has $460,000 in life savings, and each couple has a home worth $160,000. Annual nursing home costs in their state are $80,000 per person per year.

Couple A listens to Dave Ramsey and they keep everything in their name. Five years later, at age 77, both husband and wife enter a nursing home. They must spend their $460,000 in life savings on their care down to less than $3,000 - it takes them three years to do this because they are spending $160,000 per year. They then qualify for Medicaid. They live one more year in the nursing and they both pass away after residing in the nursing home for four years. After the die, Medicaid pursues its Estate Recovery rights, forces the sale of the home to reimburse Medicaid for the $160,000 of expenses it incurred. The family gets ZERO.

Couple B ignores Dave's advice and takes estate planning action to protect their savings and home. Five years later, at 77, Couple B enters the nursing home and qualifies for Medicaid. Four years later, just like Couple A, Couple B passes away. The children of Couple B now share the $640,000 of assets that Couple B had worked for, paid taxes on, and saved.

Dave Ramsey implies that what Couple B did was fraud. But it's fraud when, for example, you remove all of your assets from your name one month or one year before applying for Medicaid and you lie about it. But the government says it is permissible to engage in Medicaid planning, so long as you engage in it at least five years before applying for Medicaid.

I find it odd that Dave Ramsey would encourage people to take advantage of all tax deductions available to keep assets in the family while still taking advantage of the services the government has to offer, but don't dare move a penny of your assets in order to protect it from privately paying for nursing home costs - particularly when the government says it is ok to do so, as long as you follow their rules.

Again, I like Dave Ramsey's message on being debt-free and avoiding debt, but America does not think it is fair when those who carelessly spend everything get a 100% free ride for their long term care costs, while those who scrimp and save and accumulate a few hundred thousand dollars must get wiped out if they must reside in a nursing home.

This post is for informational purposes only and does not provide legal advice. Please do not act or refrain from acting based on anything you read on this site. Using this site or communicating with Rabalais Estate Planning, LLC, through this site does not form an attorney/client relationship.

Paul Rabalais
Louisiana Estate Planning Attorney
www.RabalaisEstatePlanning.com
Phone: (225) 329-2450

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