Pooled Trusts & Special Needs Trusts? - Alzheimer's Disease & Dementia Message Board

AnnaKaren · 02-26-2007, 07:08 PM

Does anyone have experience with a pooled trust?

I saw an elder care attorney today to get things sorted for Medicaid. Dad has funds through approximately summer of '08; I am planning ahead. I thought my only option was to spend down and apply for Medicaid a few months prior to having nothing left.

I was given the option of a pooled trust, where I put his remaining funds in this trust and he would be approved for Medicaid in the near future. Basically the money is in a trust with other people in the same circumstances and it would pay for extras Medicaid would not cover - like a private room, for example.

The only drawback I see are the fees for this - a setup fee can range from $400 - $700, and there are management fees - 1% or so. Is this just another money maker for those running the trust, which is supposed to be a bank and non profit organization? In the event of his death, whatever is left in the trust goes to pay back Medicaid, whatever might be left goes to heirs.

At first it sounded good, but I don't know. Will I have to keep checking and rechecking what they pay for rather than rechecking everything I pay for now - nursing home, RX, etc.

Any insight on this? It just gets more and more confusing.
AnnaKaren

Sandyspen · 02-27-2007, 06:28 AM

AnnaKaren,
I haven't heard of the pooled trust.

I tell ya, the money issue can be as troublesome as the disease itself. I've searched for information on the internet, read everyone's experiences here, dealt with this for 2 years, and I'm as confused as when I started.

In the beginning, part of the reason I took mom into my own home was to conserve the inheritance. When I saw that I could not handle it, I made an appt with an elder lawyer.

I'm a signer on her accounts, though I don't have (dpoa). So he told me that I was better off to just use the money for her care until it was gone. If I went through lawyers, the money would go much quicker. Now, my goal is to keep her in the "group home" as long as she has some knowledge of family and where she is. I just pray that I don't have to move her because the funds run out.

It's a quandry, though. At the time, he predicted the money would be gone in 6 months with an atty. Well, it's a year later, and I still haven't tapped her 401K at all. BUT, am I doing the right thing........I have no idea.

It shouldn't be this difficult, in my opinion.

Martha H · 02-27-2007, 09:46 AM

It should not be so hard, and it should not be so expensive!

The nursing homes are much more expensive than the best hotels in the world! The elder attorneys are more expensive than any other type of lawyer.

You can just give up on the idea of having any money left when it's all over. One answer for us - when we get a bit older, or now - is to gve any money we have now to our children and grandchildren before we get sick.

Outside of that I know no way to keep what you have saved for all your life. My generation (pre boomers, born during World War II) were taught to save first and spend later. No such thing as credit cards for over half of our adult lives. No one had 'personal debts' except their mortgage. Few even bought cars uless the cash was available (that's why mine is 11 years old - works fine too

) ..

NOW - young people spend to the maximum of several credit cards, buy everything on time , thus paying many times more than the original price, spend it all and when it's all gone - well, then they can declare bankruptcy.

Such a person will have no problem in old age if Medicaid still exists - they will be poor enough to get on it right away. The rest of us will have to hand over our hard earned savings to nursing homes, doctors and hospitals until we are poor as those who never learned to save - if we live long enough we then get on Medicaid a couple of months before we die.

What is wrong with this system? Where is the outcry ? People are lobbying for universal heatlh care - what about universal old age care???

If I seem too utopian, remember that our neighbor Canada and most European countries already have both universal health care and a government plan for old age care - so why not us?

Well, thanks for letting me vent here!

I have no faith in any funds, plans or trusts. The person who sells it to you gets a HUGE commission from the comapny, plus a huge fee from you, for 'saving' your own money. Bury it in the ground (joke, maybe?

)

Love,

Martha