Cities IG - 4-20-24

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Next up this Saturday Morning, Knowledgeis Power, hosted by Rob Kane of
Citi's Insurance Group. If you havea question for Rob and would like it
answered on an upcoming show, emailhim at r Kane at citiesig dot com.
And now Rob Kane, good morningto our show. This is Rob
Kane without Lindsey or Killy Washington todaythey were unable to join us and just

(00:25):
wanted to give you an update.I will not be having a meeting next
month at case I, the educationalmeeting for those that listen in. We
typically have them every month except duringMedicare season, you know, October through
December. But I'm fortunate enough mywife and I have been married for forty
years and we're taking a trip nextmonth, so we'll be out of the

(00:47):
country celebrating our forty year anniversary.So the next meeting that we will have
at case I Educational meeting will beJune fifth. So if you need to
you know before them or gather theinformation, I can do a one on
one meeting in the office, youknow, give us a call five six,
three, three, five nine eightfive four again, happy to do

(01:11):
that to update get people educated onyou know again, how the basics of
Medicare work, all the things thatare new this year go again at the
educational me I don't talk about anycompanies, but I will give you,
you know, a general idea andwhat cost would be depending on if you
do this supplement the drug program youknow, or Medicare advantage. So again

(01:32):
I just want to give you agood idea on all the basics and how
they work. So again, wehad a very small attended meeting this year,
just I think because of the weatherwith that weird snow and stuff that
came in. But again, youknow, we had a few people show
up, so that was still good. And again we'll be gone in May

(01:53):
and back in June. So onthe show today, I do want to
talk a little bit about some stuffthat I have going on personally with my
dad my stepmom down in Texas.And again I'm sure there's a lot of
folks potentially listening that maybe have tohelp their folks or get involved with some
of the stuff that's going on.And again i'll kind of tell you,

(02:15):
you know, how we're trying todo it to get the information we need
to help them out, So stickwith us. Like said, you know,
if you're, you know, asenior that has some kids and or
if you're the kids that you knoweventually are going to be the ones helping
mom and dad at some point tomake sure everything's good to go. You'll
want to stick with us. We'regoing to take a break and we'll be

(02:37):
back with you in just a bet. Hi, this is Rob Kane and
I just want to remind you it'sall there and Leclair, we get it.
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(03:21):
to start planning your visit to Libation'sLane, including Green Tree Brewery, Mississippi
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Leclair. We can't wait to seeyou turning sixty five soon. It doesn't
cost anything extra to work with awell marked agent. Let's work together to
find the right Medicare supplement plan foryou. Call Rob Kine with Cities Insurance

(03:43):
Group in Leclair at five sixty threethree five nine zero eight five four to
talk about your Medicare supplement options.Rob Kaine is a local authorized independent agent
for well Marked Blue Cross and BlueShield of Iowa. To be eligible,
you must reside in the service areaof the plan. Well Marked Medicare Supplemented
sureas are not affiliated with any governmentagency. Okay, welcome back once again.

(04:03):
This is Rob Kine, happy tobe here with you today. Lindsey
and Kinley are unable to be withus, but I'm sure we'll hear him
next week or the week after thenext show. I should say again,
just a quick reminder, no educationalmeeting at case I in May. I
got a forty year anniversary trip thatmy wife and I'll be taking out of
the country, so I won't beavailable, but we'll be back and that'll

(04:26):
be June fifth, again, ifyou'd like to reserve a spot, you
can give his call it five sixthStreet three five nine oh eight five four.
Or again, if you want toschedule a one on one meeting between
now and the June time frame,we can make that happen as well.
So when we went to break,I told you, you know, I
got some stuff going on with mydad and step palm down in Texas.

(04:46):
Got a call so to give youa quick overview. My dad has recently,
within the last year, year anda half two years, been developing
Alzheimer dementia, really just affecting mostlyhis short term memory right now, but

(05:08):
again you know, it's obviously causinga bit of a concern. And then
in their household down there, helives with my step mom, Carolyn,
and then Carolyn's mom, you know, Granny, and Granny's ninety nine years
old, and you know she's followeddown and had some issues as well.
But so Carolyn's really the main caregiverdown there. And recently, I have

(05:33):
a step brother that lives, youknow, about an hour and a half
away from him down in Texas,and Carolyn had asked him, Todd,
who's my stepbrother? To you know, get signed up on their checking account
because she was concerned. You know, if there's something goes on with her,
you know, someone needs to beable to you know, write checks,

(05:53):
paybills, et cetera, et cetera. Well, over the last or
two weeks or so, you know, Heirland's been rushed into the emergency room
three different times, and so againthat that concern comes up with them,
and then Todd said, you know, well they recently cast in their life
insurance policies, and you know,I'm a little concerned to make sure that

(06:17):
they're in a proper position because,you know, working with seniors, I've
seen you know, many different couplesget in that situation and people a lot
of times don't really plan ahead tomake sure everything's properly in place when they
need to. And my concern isI with my dad and his memory,
that at some point he's going toneed to go into a care facility that

(06:41):
you know, Carolyn won't be ableto to you know, manage him,
you know, at home or again, what if she passes before him,
then you know what's going to happenbecause right now, his income, they
don't have a ton of assets,but they do have some They have a
you know, mortgage on the housethat they live in. I think they've

(07:03):
probably done some homicarly loans against that. But anyway, my concern was,
you know, hey, you know, I see this all the time.
I need to get involved and helpthem financially, make sure that they're set
up financial, But I also don'twant to be intrusive, you know,
into making them think that I'm justtrying to take over, you know,

(07:26):
being too intrusive and groadge to theirfinances and so forth. So again I'm
busy with my brother. I hadto kind of explain to him why it
is a concern how medicaid does havea five year look back if they've prepositioned
any assets or done anything. Andyou know, again, we need to
take a look. It's a veryweird dynamic down there with three people in

(07:46):
the household, and we need tomake sure that no matter what happens,
you know, everyone, the kids, us kids, know what's going on,
and we know where to find allthe proper documents, et cetera.
So you know, again I'd beentalking with Todd trying to get some information
in regards to the finances and soforth, but again it really starts with

(08:09):
a much higher area is you know, I had to put together kind of
a worksheet that you know, wasquestioning, hey, do they even have
you know, they do they wantto be cremated? Do they want to
be buried? Do they have plots? Do they have insurance? You know,
it's the VA, his dad beingburied in a VA cemetery. What's

(08:31):
the plan? And do we knowwhere this information is? So that was
kind of the first overall information sheet. So I didn't want to again seem
intruesome, and I did want Toddto feel like it was all on his
shoulder. So I did call andtalk to Carolyn, the stepmom again.
She had just been at the hospitalfor a day or so getting her medications

(08:52):
back in the thing. And mybrother, well I should say my brother,
my stepbrother and I had put togetheran account to where we had someone
coming out to help them, youknow, home health agency coming out to
help them a few times a week, just to relieve a little bit of
stress off of Carolyn, because againthat's part of what Todd had reached out
to me for. She was feelingvery overwhelmed and very stressed. So after

(09:18):
talking with her, she understands,I think. Again, I had to
be real. I don't know,I don't want to say gentle, but
I had to talk to her andsay, hey, I'm really just trying
to do this to help you guysout, because you know, I have
experience with this and I've seen ithappen that people don't know where this stuff
is and it's going on. SoI sent my brother the first worksheet.

(09:39):
Again, it's overall and it justtalks about funeral preparations and plans and so
far, what we found out isthat yes, indeed, they all three
have plots that have been prepaid andsome prepaid funeral arrangements. They did catch
in their life insurance, which againwas a concern for me, as you
know, do we have other moneyset aside to actually handle those funerals or

(10:03):
is that something you know, thekids are going to have to come up
with. So trying to get thatinformation was first, you know, do
they have wills? And if so, where is all this stuff at?
So once Todd gets that worksheet andfigures out where all the information is on
these plots the burials, and youknow, does it include more than just

(10:24):
the plots themselves? Is there moneyfor the actual funeral or visitation or anything
like that. Then the second worksheatthat I'm going to have him go over
with Mom after we get the firstone taken care of. Give her a
break. We don't want to feellike she's over stressed. Has to do
within the finances, you know,who has what coming in because we know

(10:46):
overall that Dad's income really is supportingthat household as of right now, and
if he were to have to gointo a facility, they're going to lose
that income. And you know,because they still have a mortgage on the
house and car payment and not aton of assets, that's going to put
Carolyn in a really bad position.So we need to prepare for that.

(11:09):
So we are looking to see getan estimate in regards to a potential reverse
mortgage so that we could eliminate thehouse payment. They can utilize that money
again to have more in need inneed care in home care. I should
say, help pitch in on thatso my brothers and myselves aren't having to

(11:33):
pay for all of that. Andjust want to make sure that if Dad
were'd have to go into an institution, Carolyn still would have the place to
live, which again that is whatthe reverse mortgage would help with. Now
I know there's a lot of peoplethat say, oh, you know,
don't reverse mortgages, they're not good. Again, a reverse mortgage just a

(11:54):
financial tool and if you properly,can help accomplish what you want to accomplish.
In this situation, I think it'ssomething that potentially will work because they
they again they don't own the house. They're making payments, and those payments
could go towards current needs, notto the house. And again in a
reverse mortgage situation, they don't makeany payments as long as they have about

(12:18):
fifty percent equity or more, aslong as they're over sixty two, and
they both get to live there andthat interest just accumulates and then when they
the second person has passed, theopportunity for the estate can either then pay
for all that interest it's accumulated andagain try to maybe sell the house and

(12:39):
get if there's any equity left.But if it's in an upside down situation,
then the state just doesn't purchase thehouse, pay that off. Let's
that go back to the bank andthen the bank can sell and you know,
assume that. But again, thebank in a reverse mortgage situation.
Isn't going to put themselves in asituation where they feel that the interest is

(13:01):
going to accumulate higher than the valueof the home. So again it's just
a financial tool so that we cantake those payments instead of trying to put
equity into a house that nobody's goingto want when they pass. Is taking
that current income money and that paymentand putting it towards helping with home health
care or other things that they haveright now, making sure we pay off

(13:24):
credit cards. If they have somecredit cards, then they don't really have
much in regards to savings or fouroh one K or anything like that.
They really just have the VA disabilityincome with my dad, so security for
Mom and Dad, and then ofcourse Granny has her own as well.

(13:45):
And also part of that first worksheetI'm sorry that I bring up was making
sure what health care insurance that theyhad. You know, it looked like
Granny had a supplement. Mom hasjust regular Medicare and then Champ benefits,
and then Dad has you know,Medicare and VA as well. So again,

(14:05):
just trying to make sure that they'vegot everything that they need to live
out the rest of their lives comfantlyin that home. And again, you
know, when it's your parents,you don't want to feel intrusive, like
you're trying to take over their stuffor that they can't handle their own stuff.
So it's a delicate balance as towhen when do we need to get

(14:26):
this stuff looked at? And again, where is all this information? It
should be in kind of one placeso that if something would happen, you
know, the kids or whomever knowswhere to go to access the information,
so it's not a struggle trying tofind out what we need to do.
I'm going to go ahead and takea quick break. We'll come back and

(14:50):
get things wrapped up for you.Signing up for Medicare doesn't have to be
complicated. With well Marked Blue Crossand Blue Shield, you can get all
of your health insurance needs in oneplace. Wellmark offers hassel free Medicare supplement
plans, optional dental coverage and more. Call Rob Kine with Cities Insurance Group
in Leclair at five six three threefive nine zero eight five four to choose

(15:11):
coverage that nine in ten stay withyear after year. Rob Kine, your
local healthcare insurance expert, is availableto answer all of your questions call today.
Rob Kine is a local authorized independentagent for well Marked Blue Cross and
Blue Shield of Iowa. To beeligible, you must reside in the service
area of the plan. Wellmarked MedicareSupplement insurance plans are not affiliated with any
government agency. Hi, this isRob Kine, and I just want to

(15:33):
remind you it's all there in Leclair. It's a beautiful morning for a cruise.
Start your day with a ninety minutelong sightseeing cruise on the iconic riverboat
Twilight, located in Leclair, Iowa. Your captain will provide a brief history
of the local wildlife and neighboring townswhile you enjoy the warm sun and refreshing
breeze. Feel free to purchase drinkson board or pack a quick lunch to

(15:54):
bring with you. Sightseeing cruises areavailable on Memorial Day weekend and the third
on Saturday the month June through October. Need a little more time on the
river. The Riverboat Twilight also offersone and two day tours to unique boutiques.
Oh Yes, eat lunch, takea walk down Cody Road. Hey,
there's always time for wine. Thenready for a night out? That's

(16:15):
right, it's all there in Leclair. We can't wait to see you.
Okay, welcome back once again.This is Rob Kane, happy to be
here with you today again. Lindsayand Kinley couldn't be with us again.
Our educational meetings, we will nothave one in May as it will be
on a forty year anniversary trip withmy missus and well, June fifth will

(16:41):
be the next educational meeting, Solook for those postcards coming in the mail.
Love to have you at ten ifyou need to get that information for
this year, you know, ifyou're turning sixty five or just have questions
you know about Medicare and how everythingworks altogether. So before the break,
we're talking about my mom and dadand you know, having to try to
kind of get involved and so forth. And you know, people are,

(17:04):
i know, my brother down toTexas, like, well, why do
we need to be worried about thiskind of stuff? And I say,
and I was trying to explain tohim that, like, if dad needs
going to facility, they will.Once you're over sixty five and you go
to apply for Medicaid, Medicaid hasa five year look back and they take

(17:26):
a look at all your incomes,your assets everything financially, and they look
back five years and if they seethat you gave away any money or anything
like that over that five years,they count that as part of your assets.
And so again what they do isthey figure out your total assets.

(17:48):
If you have a spouse, andagain this is just general information, but
if you have a spouse, thespouse is able to stay in the house
and they can have one car,one automobile. Other than that, again,
they're totaling up all of the otherassets, and the person going into
the facility is only gonna is goingto have to spend down all of their

(18:11):
share of the assets until they're downto two thousand dollars, and they can
only keep two thousand dollars in anaccount that they can use for further items
you know, again such a certaincare and whatnot that they will need,
but the bank account itself has tostay. So again, let's just make
up numbers here and say that theperson going in gets, you know,

(18:33):
five thousand dollars a month for socialSecurity or BA or whatever their incomes.
Well, if the facility they're goinginto is nine thousand dollars a month,
which is not an outrageous number fora care facility like that. Then they're
going to have to pay the ninethousand a month until all of that person's

(18:55):
assets are spent down to two thousanddollars. So again, if they've got
you know, fifty thousand dollars inassets that counts towards them, it's only
going to take about you know,five months or so, and they're going
to be spent down to their twothousand, and the spouse is you know,
only limited to their half of theassets that they can keep again the

(19:18):
car and then you know, againstaying in the house, so that can
take a big chunk of assets outof that household and spent. Now,
once it's spent down to the twothousand, well let's remember, you know,
it was nine thousand dollars a month. But now that Medicaid takes over
making that payment, they're going totake all of that person's five thousand dollars

(19:42):
and maybe it went from nine thousanddown to let's say seven thousand, because
now it's Medicaid. Well, thenthey're going to take the five thousand income
from that person and they're going topay the extra thousand or two thousand,
depending on what you know it wentdown to. But they're going to keep
track of that number that they're havingto pay. So let's say it's two

(20:04):
thousand a month for as long asthat person lives. Well, eventually when
that person passes, they have what'scalled medicaid recovery and they will go back
after the estate to try to gainwhatever money they put out over and above
the amount of money that that personhad coming in. So again it's kind

(20:25):
of a complicated little process. Oragain you've got to if you're going to
reposition any assets, you've got todo that before you know the five year
look back. Also, you know, when it comes to the spend down
part again, if they're able tokeep one car, I mean the car
doesn't have to be an old beater, it could be you know, you

(20:47):
could take some of those funds andbuy a newer car, so it's going
to be more reliable and whatnot forthe spouse that's going to be on their
own, and it would just putmore equity into there, unless it is
going to have to be spent downinto the nursing care facility or whatnot.
So again, there is some planningthat you would want to do. You

(21:08):
want to make sure that you kindof take a look at all the tools
that are available. A lot ofpeople they will set up a trust.
You don't transfer assets into that trust, and then again once it's past the
five year look back, then that'sno longer considered part of the assets that
have to be spent down. Again. It's a lot more complicated than what

(21:30):
I'm just trying to cover here,but I'm just saying that, you know,
aging parents that are getting close to, you know, towards end of
life, especially like my dad who'sgot Alzheimer and dimension is having trouble with
memory and mom Mom's having a carefor not only him, but for her
mom. You know, it's importantthat you open up and you know,

(21:56):
take a look at this stuff andproperly plan and make sure that your kids
or whoever's going to have to thenhandle these issues once they pass, knows
where all this stuff is, knowswhat's going on, and is able to
effectively take care of everyone again intolife. You know, I know,

(22:17):
we all think we're going to liveforever or we really want to, but
you know, we have to berealistic and make sure that we're helping the
kids ore agon as kids. We'rehelping the parents to have the most effective
outcomes that we can. If youhave any questions or anything in regards to
some of this, give me acall five six or eight three five nine
oh eight five four. I hopeyou're all having a wonderful weekend. Go

(22:41):
Hawks. Thanks so much and havea wonderful week. Let's see you next
time. Thank you for listening tothis week's edition of Knowledge is Power with
your host Rob Kine. If youhave a question for Rob and would like
it answered on an upcoming show,email him at r Kane at citiesig dot

(23:02):
com. Please tune in again nextSaturday morning.