Is there any legitimate way to protect assets so they don't get siphoned away leaving the family with nothing before Medicare/Medicaid will take up the slack?

Yes, do it well in advance. I think five years is the cutoff but I do not know for sure.

My mother went through this several years ago. We knew she had problems but she wouldn’t go in for mental health exams and regular Drs didn’t catch it. She had a stroke then another and was at the moderate stage of dementia and was bed ridden. She deteriorated over a two year period until she could no longer swallow. She didn’t want to be artificially alive so we called in palliative care hospice. She lasted almost two weeks, fighting it. She was so medicated she wasn’t conscious for those two weeks. Know what they want in advance.

quote:

Originally posted by Pyker:
Is there any legitimate way to protect assets so they don't get siphoned away leaving the family with nothing before Medicare/Medicaid will take up the slack?

Yes, you gotta do it 5 years in advance. It's called the "lookback period."

That was very helpul guys. The pressure on my wife is very difficult. I forced her out of the house to meet with one of her girlfrends for some down time. Things are getting worse at a rapid pace, we'll see what the doctor says. She's visiting a place tomorrow, I don't know if that will entail a nurse assessment or not this first visit, but the place is nice and expensive, we'll see if there's a way to get her in. Sooner is better. My poor wife loves her mother but there are limits in terms of coping, at least limits we'd like not to push more if it can be helped.