Annuities are not always the best option for seniors when doing an estate plan for long term care. Often estate planning terms like “Medi-Cal Safe annuities” are used when working with seniors, or seniors are told that annuities will protect their life savings from going to the cost of long term care.

If you or someone you know is considering buying an annuity for the sole purpose of Medi-Cal estate planning, it’s probably not a good idea unless you know what assets are counted under Medi-Cal in the first place and what assets will be subject to am estate claim.

CANHR has a number of resources to assist families with the Medi-Cal process. Some of these resources include: free fact sheets on exempt and non-exempt resources, your Home and Medi-Cal, and IRAs, Pensions & Annuities under Medi-Cal. We also sell a Medi-Cal training video and publish a “Consumer’s Guide to Financial Considerations and Medi-Cal Eligibility,” just to name a few.

An excellent resource for information on annuities is an article published by H.E.L.P. (Healthcare and Elder Law Program). You can download the article at help4srs.org or call CANHR for a copy.