Question: My father was in good health until, at age 69, a stroke left him unable to function and too much for my mother to care for at home. The harsh reality of how quickly $5,000 per month would cut into their $100,000 nest egg set in only after Medicare stopped paying for the nursing home after the first 25 days. Dad had been a janitor and Mom a cook at a local school for 35 years. They looked at nursing home insurance years ago, but could not afford it -- especially with the added expense of caring for my 40-year-old brother who has been handicapped since birth and still lives at home with my mother. We looked into Medicaid for Dad, and found that Mom would have to spend all but about $30,000 before he would qualify. But at age 66, Mom still has many good years ahead of her, and, without help, she would be destitute. With the help of a lawyer, my parents engaged in legal “Medicaid Planning” that made sure Dad was cared for, that Mom was more secure, and that my brother would be taken care of.

I am writing you because I am irate at a recent article written by Jane Bryant Quinn that calls the planning my family did “immoral”, “unethical”, and, in effect, stealing from the government. Yet, at the same time, I have read Ms. Quinn’s articles that advise the wealthy how to use legal loopholes to escape estate and income taxes. How does she come by calling hard-working people like my parents who have paid their taxes and took nothing in return, thieves? Why should the wealthy be allowed to plan to save taxes legally while the middle class are penalized for planning that is just as legal? This is nothing more than class discrimination, especially against dependent women, which has no place in the United States.

Answer: We agree. While Ms. Quinn promotes estate and income tax planning devices for the wealthy that allow more assets to pass to future generations, she has aligned herself with insurance marketers and lobbyists who oppose Medicaid planning for the less fortunate seniors who cannot afford to pay for, or do not qualify medically for, the insurance they sell.

We think Ms. Quinn has been hoodwinked by the Center for Long Term Care Financing. Once a long-term care insurance marketing company, but now a charitable organization that is heavily funded by the insurance industry, CLTCF wants seniors who cannot afford to pay for nursing home insurance to be prohibited from passing assets on to their spouses or children if they receive Medicaid. CLTCF also proposes that people over age 65 who do not have this insurance should be required to register their assets with the government and explain how they are used. Talk about “Big Brother.”

Has anyone suggested that those who avail themselves of legal estate planning tools be subject to recovery of lost tax revenue from their estates? Yet, those seniors not fortunate enough to be able to pay for their care who engage in legal Medicaid planning are subject to having their assets confiscated, thereby depriving their families of inheritance and depriving dependent spouses of a reasonable lifestyle.