THE UNFAIR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM
I started telling you about the unfair nature of our healthcare system in my last blog, but there’s one more guy we need to meet to get a better idea of what I am talking about. His name is Bob. Bob managed to save up $100,000 and pay off his home, but he hired a Colorado elder law attorney to give him some pre-planning advice. That Colorado elder law attorney was aware of all of the provisions of the Medicaid laws and advised Bob to make some approved purchases and some gifts to family members so that by the time Bob entered a nursing home, his assets would be protected. Thus, Bob received the same care as Sam, but his assets were passed to his family and did not have to be spent on nursing home bills.
Is Sam, who managed to build up a small amount of savings, more ethical than Joe—who squandered his money and then had the government pay for his care? Is Sam more ethical than Bob who simply followed the rules and regulations enacted by the government and managed to protect his life savings and his house? And how does that differ from the guy in the Lexus who pays top dollar for the Big Four accounting firm for clever tax planning by setting up an offshore corporation so his business can legally avoid paying millions in income taxes? Legal? Yes. Ethical? I leave that decision up to you. In any event, is it more ethical than planning in advance to get Medicaid later?