Pro Active Vs. Reactive Home and Health Financial Planning
There are very few times in our lives where we fail to plan for the future. Before we are born our supplies and living arrangements are planned and the joyous event takes place, we are born. From infancy all our steps are arranged. From there, we continue forward with schooling, coming of age and careers. Throughout the years as we grow, we continue to plan for our futures and eventually retirement. It is in this latter planning where sometimes plans are not a strong as they once were or could have been.
Most of us do not live our lives planning for the worst but instead have high hopes for our futures. Life is unpredictable as we all know and in some cases a health care crisis can change the entire tone of our futures we have planned. Being unprepared in this type of crisis can be costly and can even bankrupt any and all plans we have laid down. Only when we arrive on the doorstep of a health care crisis do we fully realize how well we have planned.
Private insurance is for when we are in our working lives, and Medicare for when we retire. How does a person transition from their working life through a health care crisis right before Medicare? How do I pay my bills? Where does my income come from if I am not yet of the age for retirement? These questions are valid and should be addressed long before any type of crisis arises.
Home and Health Financial Planning is a new way of answering these questions. There are many ways to look at a situation. Depending on the diagnosis, there is a timeline usually accompanying the news and a course of treatment follows but, in most cases, we look to our insurance to handle most of the concerns.
There are ways in which to access public programs that can leverage the financial burden of high costs for care. We should explore these avenues and be proactive in our understanding of what is available. By the time you or your loved one is in the hospital it could be too late for a financial review.
Editor’s Note: This article was submitted by Jennifer Erikson with AAA Medicaid Consulting, Inc. For more information she may be reached at 719-459-2519 or email [email protected]
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