If your parent/grandparent is is a nursing home

[exboyfil]

5. Just wait Pennsylvania has already sued under

a filial responsibility law. I tend to agree with the government getting back the assets of those who go to Title 19. If you have an estate, then protect it with Long Term Care insurance. Filial responsibility is a whole new ballgame. My grandmother is in the nursing home in my state (I have control of her financial affairs). Needless to say she has nothing (never has in her life). It does keep me up at night thinking that Iowa has a filial responsibility law and what would happen if the state decides to enforce it (goodbye college for the kids and my retirement).

No way we as a society can handle what is coming. My grandmother's nursing home is $72K/yr. She only gets and signs away about $15K/yr for the care (over $50K shortfall). She has been in the home five years now (probably $250+K for the nursing home alone not counting the hospital, doctors, drugs, etc). She has probably hit $500K in expenditures on Medicaid. Needless to say that would easily wipe me out if I was responsibile for it.

At the end of the day there is no free lunch - just who is going to pay is the question. We are already not paying our bills (if you zero out the defense budget we are still 300 billion dollars short this year). Additional revenue from eliminating the Bush tax cuts would help close the budget gap, but what about the growth of future spending. Medicaid is going to grow like crazy as more and more indigents go into nursing homes.