Most Americans will need long-term care at some point, yet very few plan for how to pay for it. Medicare covers far less than most people assume, and the family home often becomes part of the solution. This guide connects the 70% statistic from Wiz's 'How to Pay for Long-term Care' book series to the real choices Florida families make.
Wiz's tip
Have the long-term care conversation long before a health crisis. The best plans are made calmly, with time, by everyone together, not in a hospital waiting room.
What Medicare actually covers
Medicare covers a great deal, but long-term custodial care, the kind of daily help with bathing, dressing, and meals that most seniors eventually need, is largely not one of them. It covers short skilled stays under strict conditions, but not indefinite care. The gap is where families get caught off guard.
Wiz's 'How to Pay for Long-term Care' book series starts from this exact reality: around 70% of people turning 65 will need long-term care at some point. Planning for that number, not hoping you are the exception, is the responsible move.
Medicaid and the spend-down
Medicaid can help cover long-term care for those who qualify, and in Florida it involves a complex application and often a spend-down of assets. People misunderstand this process and make costly mistakes, sometimes unwittingly, around gifting and transferring assets.
This is not a do-it-yourself area. Wiz works closely with elder law attorneys and Medicaid planners who handle the details correctly, so families protect what they can and avoid penalties that delay coverage.
How the home fits in
For many families, the home is the single largest asset available to fund care or to pass on to the next generation. Selling the family home can free up the equity that pays for a senior living community or in-home care, and doing it at the right time and in the right way matters.
As a Certified Real Estate Planning Advisor, Wiz coordinates the real estate side of the plan, the sale, the timing, and the proceeds, with the tax advisors and attorneys who protect the whole picture. The home and the care plan are one conversation, not two.
Start the conversation early
The best long-term care plans are made calmly, years before they are needed, not in the middle of a health crisis. That is the difference between reacting and planning, and it is the heart of what Wiz does as The Life Transition Specialist.
Start by understanding your own family's numbers: what care costs in Florida, what Medicare and any insurance would cover, what the home is worth, and what the family wants. Bring those questions to a strategy call and build the plan together.