The cost of nursing home care is extraordinarily expensive in the United States. The MetLife Mature Market Institute keeps tabs on the industry, year-by-year, and their 2011 statistics give you an idea of just how exorbitant these expenses have become.

The national average for a single day in a private room in an American nursing home last year was $239, and this factors out to over $87,000 if you were to spend the year. Experts expect these costs to continue to trend upward and, in fact, nursing home care costs rose by 4.4% last year.

We think of elder Americans as the demographic group that populates nursing homes and, of course, this is true to a large extent. But there are also people with disabilities of various ages that require such care.

Many people with special-needs take advantage of the Medicaid program to pick up their nursing home costs. However, one has to be very careful about leaving behind inheritances to people with special-needs so that their Medicaid eligibility is not impacted.

There are trusts that can be created for the benefit of people with special needs that are carefully crafted so as not to affect the eligibility of the individual in question. It does, however, take the expertise of an experienced professional to walk that thin line and devise the perfect plan.

Should you be interested in discussing special-needs trusts with an expert, take action right now to arrange for an informative consultation with a licensed Oklahoma City estate planning lawyer. Your attorney will evaluate your situation, answer all of your questions, and provide you with the best possible advice.

Larry Parman
Author, President and Founding Attorney
Parman & Easterday