When it comes to long-term care costs, the charges for home care are now rising faster than those for nursing home care, according to Genworth’s 2019 Cost of Care survey.

If you are nearing your 50s without a post-retirement plan, this is an opportunity to plan judiciously and start saving for your retirement. Here are five strategic steps for achieving this.

Americans are living longer than they did in years past, including those with disabilities. Planning by parents can …

Being appointed guardian of a loved one is a serious responsibility. As guardian, you are in charge of your loved one’s well-being and you have a duty to act in his or her best interest.  

If you are over age 60 and you haven’t changed your estate plan in many decades, it’s almost certain that you need to update your documents and start reviewing them every five years.

Movies, television, and books like to present wills in dramatic ways–handwritten notes, videos, deathbed utterances–but what actually makes a will valid? The law varies depending on what state you live in, but there are some basic rules. 

It may become harder for Medicare beneficiaries to find home health care due to a new rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Although the rule changes the way home health care providers are reimbursed, it could affect patient care as well. 

Older Americans with a life insurance policy that they no longer need have the option to sell the policy to investors. These transactions, called “life settlements,” can bring in needed cash, but are they a good idea? 

When creating advance directives in order to plan for the possibility that you may one day be unable to make your own medical decisions, there can be confusion about the difference between a living will and a “do-not-resuscitate” order.

Federal law requires that after you reach age 70 1/2, you must begin withdrawing a minimum amount
from your retirement accounts. But what if you die after age 70 1/2 and before all the account funds have been distributed?

Medicare covers preventative care services, including an annual wellness visit. But confusing a wellness visit with a physical could be very costly. 

Social Security survivor’s benefits provide a safety net to widows and widowers. But to get the most out of the benefit, you need to know the right time to claim. 

Paying for day care is one of the biggest expenses faced by working adults with young children, a dependent parent, or a child with a disability, but there is a tax credit available to help working caregivers defray the costs of day care.

Caring for an ailing family member is difficult work, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be unpaid work. There are programs available that allow Medicaid recipients to hire family members as caregivers. 

A new report that combines nursing home quality data with a survey of family members ranks the best and worst states for care and paints a picture of how Americans view nursing homes.

Traditionally, Medicaid has paid for long-term care in a nursing home, but because most individuals would rather be cared for at home and home care is cheaper, all 50 states now have Medicaid programs that offer at least some home care. 

We’ve all heard the advice “It pays to shop around,” but this has never been more true than with the current market for long-term care insurance. 

This is the last year that spouses who are turning full retirement age can choose whether to take spousal benefits or to take benefits on their own record. The strategy, used by some couples to maximize their benefits, will not be available to people turning full retirement age after 2019. 

If you are paying for your own insurance, you may think you do not need to sign up for Medicare when you turn 65. However, not signing up for Medicare Part B right away can cost you down the road. 

Medicare's hospice benefit is one of the most comprehensive benefits and can be extremely helpful to both the terminally ill individual and his or her family, but it is little understood and underutilized. 

The older the population gets, the greater the potential for elder abuse. States have laws in place designed to combat elder abuse, but some states are doing a better job than others.

The new tax law makes it harder to claim a tax deduction for charitable contributions. While charitable giving should not be only about getting a tax break, if you want to get a tax benefit from your contributions, there are a couple of options. 

A new study has found that people enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan were more likely to enter a lower-quality nursing home than were people in traditional Medicare.

Technological advances have made it easier to stay connected with loved ones all the time. This has included the ability to install cameras in a loved one's nursing home room. These so-called “granny cams” have legal and privacy implications. 

Hospital patients who need additional care after being discharged from the hospital are usually sent to either an inpatient rehabilitation facility or a skilled nursing facility. Although these facilities may look similar from the outside, Medicare offers very different coverage for each.

With the aging population becoming increasingly tech savvy, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has moved a lot of services online. From applying for Social Security benefits to replacing a card, the SSA has online tools to help.