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Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy
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Durable Power of Attorney, Health Care Proxy
By Shawn P. Leary
Whether you are young or old, you need a Durable Power of Attorney (DPOA) and a Health
Care Proxy (Proxy). These documents allow you to appoint a trusted friend or relative
(your "agent") to make decisions for you if you are unable (for example, if you
are not mentally competent to make your own decisions). A DPOA and Proxy are unrelated to
your will; they are only effective while you are alive, while a will is only relevant
after you pass away.
The DPOA relates to your personal and financial decision-making. The Proxy relates to
health/medical decision-making. If you do not have a Proxy and a DPOA, and you lose your
ability to make your own decisions, your relatives may have to go to court to get
permission to make decisions for you.
Forms for the DPOA and Proxy are available free through Elder Services and Western
Massachusetts Legal Services. If you have a family lawyer, he/she can also prepare the
forms for you.
Medicaid, Long Term Care Insurance, and Your House
Medicaid can cover the cost of nursing home care for individuals who meet the financial
requirements. However, once the Medicaid program pays for any of your care in a nursing
home, the government requires a right to put a lien on your house to cover the cost of
your care. There are some exceptions to this general rule, and one of the most significant
relates to purchase of Long Term Care Insurance.
Let's say you go into a nursing home. Ordinarily, you will pay the charges out of your own
money for a while, and once your assets have been reduced by such payments, the Medicaid
program will kick in and will begin to pay part or all of the cost of your care. This
gives rise to the program's right to put a lien on your house. However, if before you went
into the nursing home, you had bought a Long Term Care Insurance policy meeting the
Massachusetts requirements, you could have protected yourself (and your heirs) against
that Medicaid lien, even if Medicaid eventually paid for some or all of your nursing home
care. Massachusetts law thus encourages purchase of Long Term Care Insurance. If you
purchase such insurance, you don't have to worry about losing your house to the
government.
Shawn P. Leary is an Attorney at Law in Lee.