Every family has its own unique set of challenges and concerns when it comes to caring for seniors. At Bass Eldercare Resources, we pride ourselves on being able to guide elders and their families through a wide range of elder caregiving solutions.
These elder caregiving solutions include assessing your elder’s needs and providing information about and facilitating access to the appropriate elder caregiving services. These services include the following:
Bill Payment
A monthly review of your elder or senior parents’ bills ensures that everything gets paid, and nothing slips through the cracks. Bass Eldercare will help arrange automatic bill pay, if desired, to streamline the process.
Additionally, many organizations are less than scrupulously honest when dealing with elders. Hospitals are notorious for overcharging patients for services, so if an elder has a long-term stay, it is important that the bill be carefully scrutinized. Identifying duplicate services and charges for services not received can save an elder substantial amounts of money. Recently, we were able to reduce an elder’s bill by 25%. We are prepared to do this for each and every client.
Living Arrangement Research
From receiving appropriate care at home to assisted living facilities and nursing homes, there are a number of living options for an elder to receive care. Bass Eldercare assesses the elder’s wishes, personality, assets and preferences, helping the family identify the appropriate eldercare living situation that best caters to your needs. Our familiarity with the elder caregiving facilities and agencies throughout the Tri-State area make us uniquely well positioned to provide families with complete, accurate information on today’s eldercare living options.
Health and Disability Insurance
Far and away, the largest challenge for many elders is having the insurance companies pay the bills. Bass Eldercare advocates for elders at every point through the insurance process, from assessing policies to ensure that adequate coverage is in place to making sure bills are submitted and paid in a timely fashion, handling denials and the countless other tasks involved with the health and disability insurance system.
Health Care Proxies and Living Wills
Health care proxies and living wills are documents that designate a trusted individual to make health care decisions for an elder in the event that the elder cannot make those decisions for themselves.
Ideally, we work with elders to have this documentation in place as part of a planned approach to health care. However, emergency situations do arise, and Bass Eldercare is experienced and prepared to help families who are caring for seniors navigate the paperwork maze to ensure that every elder receives the appropriate, desired health care treatments in accordance with their wishes. We also help families identify and acquire legal counsel to guide them as needed during this time.
Long Term Care Insurance
Long-term care insurance is a financial instrument used to fund elder care in a variety of settings, many of which are not covered by traditional insurance or Medicare. Long-term care insurance is a relatively new product, and many families don’t know a lot about it. It is often the case that an elder is under-insured or confused about what is or isn’t covered by their policy.
For this reason, Bass Eldercare Resources performs long-term care insurance reviews. This includes a review of the amount and type of coverage, in the context of the individual elder’s needs and a comprehensive financial plan. Long-term care insurance advocacy is the process by which Bass Eldercare Resources helps elders navigate the long-term care insurance paperwork and ensure that their bills are paid.
Medicaid
Medicaid is the government’s insurance program for low income individuals. Qualifying for Medicaid is a complex process, involving completing an application that reviews the elder’s finances for the past five years. Bass Eldercare assists and advocates for elders with the Medicaid system, including working to ensure that the elder can receive care in the setting of their choice and filing the application with the appropriate State and local agencies.
Reverse Mortgage
Reverse mortgages are of interest to some elders who use them to obtain cash for living expenses from the equity in their homes. Bass Eldercare will research and analyze reverse mortgage options, and if a reverse mortgage is already in place, we will help the elder with the requirements of the agreement.
Revocable Living Trusts
A revocable living trust allows an elder to transfer their assets into a trust. Revocable living trusts are often used to protect an elder’s assets while offering complete control and remarkable flexibility.
Once the assets are in the trust, the elder can manage it themselves, if this is their wish, until their incapacitation or death; alternative trustees can be named to allow a trusted individual to manage the elder’s assets in case of incapacitation.
The elder can name multiple beneficiaries to the trust. The trust is changeable, preserves the elder’s privacy, and can play a pivotal role in ensuring that an elder’s final wishes are respected. Revocable living trusts are a faster and more affordable way to ensure a timely, orderly transfer of assets, without the burden of court or probate.
The decision to opt for a revocable living trust rather than a will is very individual. Bass Eldercare Resources works closely with every family to ensure that assets are protected, beneficiaries are appointed in accordance with the elder’s wishes, and final plans are respected above all.
