Customer Reviews

Choose the Right Long-Term Care: Home Care, Assisted Living & Nursing Homes

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you need legal knowledge, and can find a Nolo Press book that covers the topic, just buy it. You won't go wrong. This book is no exception.

An elderly family member is facing choices about whether to enter long term care. We needed to know all the ins and outs of various options, including Medicaid, Medicare, and veterans benefits. This book covers everthing of importance in clear, concise text.

One problem in a situation like this is that the "experts", like the case managers and social workers at hospitals and nursing homes, seldom have the time or incentive to tell you the whole story. It's up to you to figure out what your options are, and what protections you have. This book covers all of the bases in clear, understandable language.

Important note: several laws and regulations regarding transfer of assets and Medicaid/MediCal coverage eligability changed in early 2006. Make sure you understand the current laws. This book was published in late 2006 and is very up-to-date.

Like I said, another winner from Nolo.

I am in the middle of dealing with a failing parent. I have consulted with all the recommended experts (accountants, multiple attorneys, social workers, private care managers, all the medical people). This book lays out clearly and very helpfully what I had hoped all the attorneys would've, but didn't. This book gives you the information you need to make your own decisions, rather than relying the 'experts' to decide for you. Worth every penny and the time taken to read it.

I really thought this book would help explore options for long-term care. Nolo books are usually "dummies guide"-style books, written as an introduction to a topic.

I was somewhat surprised to discover this book had nearly no information whatsoever about how to locate an affordable long-term care facility (assisted living, retirement home, live-in nurse, etc). Instead, most of the book focuses on issues like senior health insurance, medicare, reverse mortgages, supplemental insurance, how to decipher a nursing home contract, etc.

My approach to all decisions in life (including health care, long-term care, etc) is this: determine the need, then determine the best way to go about it (meaning, highest quality, most cost efficient, etc).

So when my maternal grandparents were thinking about assisted living, they looked at the high rates and the small room sizes, and hated it. So we all sat down and determined the real *needs* (this process took several weeks): i.e., help with a few meals each week, help with laundry, help getting up & down the stairs, etc.

Once the needs were clearly identified, we took ALL the pre-conceived notions OFF the table (nursing home, assisted living, etc), and started with a completely blank sheet. We determined their needs would be met by staying in their current home but adding (A) a chair lift, (B) a certified nurse to check in once a week (cost of $20 per visit), & (C) hiring part-time help with food and laundry (found on craigslist, cost of $40 per week). All their needs are now met, part of this was covered by insurance + medicare, it's super affordable (MUCH much cheaper than assisted living), AND they are super happy!

This book did not help one iota in our creative problem-solving process. That's not to say it's not useful - I've found that most Nolo books (I've read 5 or 6) contain very common, watered-down advice (do NOT expect creative problem-solving), and most of it is just reprinted from other sources. (For example, the Medicare sections seem like they're just cut & pasted from Medicare literature &/or the Medicare web site). And, if you read literature like the AARP newsletter or Prevention magazine, or if you listen to talk radio like Bruce Williams or Clark Howard, then nothing here will be new to you.

I know some people here go nuts over these Nolo books, and if you have absolutely no idea where to start with a subject, then you will definitely benefit from it! But as I said, if you are well read, can browse the internet, are familiar with the Medicare web site, then this will be redundant information for you & you should probably look for something more specific to your needs.

I am a senior citizen. That's the age you might think this book should be read. I wish everyone would read it by the time they are 30 years old, start doing research for their future, and, can understand why they need to begin a savings account for thier future.

I had no idea what a CCRC was before I purchased this book. I now live in one, and, believe that I am extremely lucky to be here. There is so much helpful information in this book. Everyone would benefit from it.

I have quite a few Nolo books and as always, this one covers all aspects of its topic. Whether we like to think about it or not, we're all going to grow old (hopefully) and will at some point require assistance in our daily living. This book covers every aspect imaginable of how to plan for and pay for long term care. I can not think of anyone who would not benefit from reading this book because preparation for old age is something that one needs to begin planning about at a young age. Even people in their twenties should begin to make preparations for this imminent stage their life.

Nolo, delves into just about every situation possible. I thought I knew quite a bit about this topic, but Nolo has taught me things I never knew or even imagined. So I would advise any adult to read, or at least browse through this book. I am very glad I read this book and I highly recommend it.

Reviews an important but neglected topic. People usually wait until it's too late to plan for this possibility. Long term care insurance is expensive. Medicaid requires asset depletion over a certain time frame. It's a potential minefield. If you have no assets, the government will take care of you. If you are very wealthy, you can afford long term care insurance or pay for this potentiality out of pocket. If you are in between these two extremes, you should read this book.

I've become a big fan of Nolo's line of "How to books". I've been using them mostly for estate planning where they have been a invaluable resource.

I never really considered long-term care until my work place starting offering long term care insurance. Unlike regular health insurance where I feel like I have a good understanding of the pros and cons of various options, LTC was something I knew nothing about. Enter this book by Nolo. It does a great job of succinctly covering what you need to know to plan for long term care, and more importantly, shed a lot of light on what it's going to take to get good long term care. Those to area are separate but equally important: depending on how far out you are your LTC needs are, what you desired level of amenities is, and how are you going to pay for what you need and more elusively, want.

I'm young enough that this is mostly academic. It helped my evaluate the LTC insurance offered by my employer, and it help me review my 401K with an eye on how far it would get me if I ever needed LTC. After running through a number of scenarios and ended up signing up for a mid-tier LTC insurance plan that helped fill a gap in my "worst case" scenario. And for me that was about it.

After reading it I can see it having a lot more value for someone who may be actively looking for LTC for a parent or spouse. There are so many question and topics to cover there's no way this book could answer them all, but it does a good job of raising the most important issues and gives you a lot of guidance on where to seek more answers. The phone numbers in the back for things like legal aid, state-by-state elder care agencies, and home care, look like they would be a great help, especially for someone older who wasn't as comfortable searching around on the internet.

Overall a very readable survey that easily worth the price. Could you figure this all out on your own? Sure, this is the internet age. But even if you only skimmed it I think you would learn enough to feel like it was $20 well spent.

As my parents grow old and become frail I've been thinking about their long-term care, especially because they are not the planning type themselves so as their only living child I have to do everything for them, which of course makes my life harder as I have my own life to live and why is it I have to shoulder all these responsibilities? Of course I know if I don't find suitable long-term care for them, eventually they'll come to me for financial support whic of course won't be an ideal situation, as I don't have much money myself and soon I'll grow old and need to think about LTC for myself!

Anyway, I find Nolo's guide to LTC comprehensive. It's nice they cover the different options, especially for low-income, zero-wealth families. Some of the explanation is a little confusing, such as how Medicaid exactly pays for LTC or what the proper procedure is, but I'm really glad I got this book because it'll serve as a good guide to my own arduous search that's coming up.

If you need to pan for LTC for yourself or your loved ones, I highly recommend this book. It shows the way.

As we get old, we start worrying about certain things, including how to cope with failing health and ability to function independently. If you or a loved one is looking for a comprehensive guide on how to get elders the best appropriate care for what they can afford at a certain stage in their life (e.g., coping with physical impairments, onset of serious ailment, or last few months of life), this book is certainly one of them.

According to the author: "Until recently, older Americans and their families had few choices for elder care. The options were either family care at home or residence in a nursing facility or 'rest home.' Family care often placed an overwhelming burden on adult children and grandchildren and seriously strained family relations. Care in a nursing facility, on the other hand, often created guilty feeling, drained family finances, and restricted the elder's comfort and independence." (page 31)

Fortunately, the options available for elder care have increased in recent years, ranging from hiring home care aides to assist with personal hygiene, dressing, or other physical and non-medical tasks; to occasional visits from nurses to give injections or take blood samples; to assisted living arrangements for more extended care; and finally, for more serious conditions, round the clock nursing care facilities or hospice care.

This guide discusses several options in detail, comparing costs and benefits, and what assistance (e.g., financial, or information on care standards or facility certifications, etc.) you might be able to get from programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, etc.

The maze of options, eligibility requirements for financial assistance, hidden pitfalls, and ways you can prepare for various things can be difficult to navigate if you don't know what questions to ask whom. This guide gives you a reasonably good roadmap to help you get started, and also provides special information on how elders can avoid becoming targets of fraud, as well as how to address the special needs of veterans and elders with Alzheimer's.

I never really thought much about long term care until the need arose with my parents a couple of years ago. What this pointed out to me is that it is never to early to be thinking about the subject; if you are still on the young side you never know when an older loved one may have a need for this, and as you get older, it is wise to be prepared for taking care of yourself and your spouse before it is too late and you don't have as many options, or you are rushed and aren't able to properly evaluate alternatives in order to make wise decisions.

As with all Nolo books I have read, this is an excellent source of information for pretty much all aspects of long term care. The chapter dealing with making a decision to buy a long term care policy was of particular interest to me. I currently have a policy but this book has a great deal more information than what I considered when buying the policy in terms of statistics, what to look for, etc., and thus now I am in the process of evaluating my policy based on what is in this book to determine if it is really worthwhile to continue.

The rest of the chapters are equally as helpful. They contain a wealth of information, conveniently located all in one place that answers a lot of the questions normally brought up, and also brings up a lot of points that most of us probably never think about but that we ought to think about when making important decisions about long term care.

It seems to me that this book is well worth the money. It provides valuable information, is written from an unbiased standpoint (as opposed to hearing the pros and cons from someone who has a vested interest in your making a decision a certain way) and it is so convenient to have everything in one reference work. Studying this book now can result in huge savings of time and money in the future.