As you make your estate plan, one thing that you want to consider is that you could find yourself facing significant healthcare needs in the future. Some people find that their life savings is essentially wiped out by medical bills and other healthcare costs near the end of their life. They expected to pass that money down to the next generation, but they are unable to do so.
There are steps you can take to plan for this, and there are estate planning tools you can use to maximize the amount of your wealth that goes to your children and other beneficiaries. You can also take steps to plan for your medical needs in the future so that those costs will be covered. But this all starts with understanding what types of costs you may be facing. They are a lot higher than many people realize.
The median annual cost
The cost is going to differ a bit from one nursing home to the next. Remember that there are over 84,000 beds in more than 691 licensed nursing homes within the state. Not every facility will charge the same, but the median annual cost for a nursing home with a private room is $100,000. For those who will have a semi-private room, the cost does decrease, but it only drops to around $89,000.
That said, not everyone ends up in a nursing home. Some just stay in assisted living centers. But even this has a median annual cost of $48,000 in Florida.
Planning in advance
As you can see, these costs could quickly burn through the money that you’ve saved. Be sure you know what estate planning steps you can take to set up a plan that works for your family.