Long-Term Care Planning in Austin, Texas: Understanding Your Options and Benefits

September 15, 2023

Key Takeaways:


  • Long-term care planning removes the uncertainty surrounding future care needs.
  • Individuals have several long-term care services and payment options.
  • Long-term care insurance may help to cover future care needs for seniors.

Long-term care planning in Austin, Texas, remains a crucial part of facing the future. It is the process of making arrangements ahead of time so that you have full peace of mind that your plans will cover your future care needs. For example, you may need long-term care and support due to old age, illness, or disability.


What will the planning process cover? It should cover everything from identifying care options to settling on a care financing option. However, long-term care planning is a continuous process, and you will need to review and update your plan from time to time to reflect your current realities.


Who Is Likely to Need Long-Term Care?


According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 70% of people older than 65 years will find themselves in need of support and long-term care. Here are a few details:


  • Over the age of 65 years old. The older you are, the higher the likelihood of needing long-term care.
  • Women. On average, women live five years longer than men and are more likely to live alone for part of their golden years.
  • Living alone. Unmarried people or those without a partner will need more long-term care options in their old age.
  • Health conditions. Anyone currently managing chronic conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure will likely need adequate long-term care.
  • Family history of chronic conditions. Did your parents or grandparents have chronic conditions? You may also need long-term care as you age.
  • Poor diet or exercise habits. A lack of regular exercise and unhealthy eating may leave you needing long-term care sooner than other people.
  • Disability. A chronic illness or an accident that causes disability may leave you in need of care in the long run.


The Benefits of Long-Term Care Planning in Austin, Texas


Nursing home care in Texas costs a little less than the national average when it comes to long-term care services. The average long-term care service runs for about 3.7 years. But it may be far longer, so planning is crucial.


Some of the top benefits of long-term care planning in Austin, Texas, include the following:


Better Control Over the Future

With quality planning, you'll know what the future holds in terms of the type of care you'll receive, where you'll receive it, and who your care providers will be. You'll also remove the burden of these decisions from your loved ones.


Avoid Risking Your Assets 

Seeing how much you may possibly spend on long-term care in Texas requires careful calculations. Unless you qualify as a wealthy individual, you may end up digging into savings, letting go of assets, or relying on loved ones without diligent long-term care planning. If you need assistance, professionals like those at Senior Resource Center can help you work out how you can fund long-term care without burdening your family.


Preserve Relationships With Your Loved Ones

Between the financial cost and the demands of the care process on family caregivers, entering long-term care without adequate planning strains relationships within and outside of the family. Planning safeguards these ties as you enter your old age.


What Does Long-Term Care Planning Involve?


What are your personal needs and care preferences? Do you have a family history of chronic conditions or already suffer from a chronic condition? When you enter long-term care, what type of care might you need? 


You’ll need to make decisions in terms of where you can receive care, such as the following options:


Home Care

With this option, you'll receive professional long-term care at home. However, there will be professionals to assist you with daily living activities, health monitoring, and meal preparation.


Assisted Living Facility

These facilities will provide you with limited medical care in addition to personal care services and social activities.


Nursing Home

These facilities provide skilled nursing care around the clock. They will also provide assistance with daily living activities and rehabilitation services for residents that need it.


Embracing the expertise and compassion of skilled nursing facilities has been a transformative experience for countless seniors in Austin, Texas. These facilities not only provide specialized medical care tailored to individual needs but also create a supportive environment that fosters social engagement and emotional well-being. With their dedicated staff and comprehensive services, skilled nursing facilities offer seniors a golden opportunity to thrive and age gracefully within the heartwarming community of Austin.


Continuing Care Retirement Community

These communities have facilities to support independent living as well as nursing home care within the same environment.


What’s the Right Option for Long-term Care?


The right option for you will be a very personal decision. However, choosing one of the above-mentioned options will directly shape your long-term care planning in Austin, Texas. Your healthcare provider can provide some guidance, but ultimately, it will come down to the location and type of care you prefer and what you can afford.


Your Financial Resources Influence Your Final Decision About Long-Term Care


Finally, you will need to evaluate your assets, income, investments, and retirement funds to determine how you intend to fund long-term care. If your evaluation shows you don't have the financial resources to support long-term care, you can explore other funding options.


For example, other potential sources of funding available to you may include the following:


  • Health insurance. Some policies provide coverage for certain aspects of long-term care.
  • Government funding. Medicare and Medicaid may fund long-term care if you qualify to benefit from these programs. Navigating the intricacies of Medicaid application for long-term care planning can be complex, but with the right guide to these services in Austin, Texas, families can be walked through this process while strategically safeguarding their assets. An experienced team dedicated to helping seniors access the care they need without jeopardizing their financial well-being is essential. With tailored approaches and a deep understanding of Medicaid regulations, professionals can ensure that your long-term care journey is both secure and financially sustainable.
  • Reverse mortgages. It's possible to convert your home equity into cash to cover your long-term care expenses.


For many people, long-term care insurance is the most practical option. However, you should keep in mind that some companies may not sell policies to people already diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or other age-related disorders. Always check the fine print.


Bottom Line


Long-term care planning may not be high on your list of priorities right now. However, it's pivotal that you plan for it now, long before you need it. Failure to do so can have major health-related and financial consequences for you and those you love.


Do you need help with long-term care planning in Austin, Texas? Call the Senior Resource Center at (512) 835-0963 today to schedule a consultation and give yourself peace of mind.

By Adampted from Kerry Burnight, Author of Joyspan July 31, 2025
From The Guardian: This is an adapted excerpt from Joyspan by Dr Kerry Burnight. For 18 years, she taught geriatric medicine and gerontology at the University of California, Irvine school of medicine. Used with permission from Worthy Books, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc. Anyone who says “age is just a number” has not reached the high numbers. Ageing is not easy, and “forever young” is not a plan. Regardless of how many burpees you can do or protein smoothies you chug, the passing of time brings challenges. Roles that you relished change, words on menus seem to shrink, necks sag, diagnoses arise. On the other hand, ageing is not the downhill slide that people believe it is. A multibillion-​dollar anti-ageing industry profits when you feel awful about yourself and fear ageing like the plague. The tragedy of ageing is not that we will all grow old and die, but that ageing has been made unnecessarily, and at times excruciatingly, painful and humiliating. Ageing does not have to be this way. I taught geriatric medicine and gerontology for 19 years at the University of California, Irvine school of medicine. At UCI’s senior health center, I had a front-​row seat to observe people, and their families, navigate old age. What struck me most was the radical differences in how people experienced their own ageing process. For some, it is a frustrating, degrading, painful trajectory of ever-increasing decline. For others, there is visible delight, spirituality and joy in occupying their eighth, ninth, and 10th decades. When it comes to longevity, the primary focus has been lifespan, the length of life. More recently though, the scope has expanded beyond years of life to years of life in good health, or healthspan. This is a welcome shift, because we all want to live as healthily as possible for as long as possible. But there’s a catch. A long life, even a long life in good health, doesn’t mean much if you don’t like your life. As geriatrician Dr Louise Aronson observes: “We’ve added a couple of decades, essentially an entire generation, on to our lives, and we haven’t figured out how to handle that.” To thrive in old age means to live a fulfilling, purposeful and satisfying life despite the challenges that accompany ageing. It involves maximizing physical health, cognitive function, emotional wellbeing, social connections, and a sense of meaning. Thriving doesn’t mean being free of all health problems or challenges; rather, it emphasizes resilience, adaptability and the ability to find joy and value in life. People don’t thrive in longevity by mistake or luck. People who thrive in longevity actively maximize the quality of their lives. But how? I scoured the findings of 35 years of empirical testing on psychological well​being in longevity. The deeper I dug into the findings, the more I recognized a profound underlying pattern. The hundreds of predictors found in thousands of studies on what is necessary to thrive in longevity consistently group into four essential elements. Grow: They continue to expand and explore. Connect: They put time into new and existing relationships. Adapt: They adjust to changing and challenging situations. Give: They share themselves. Each of these elements is non-negotiable for wellbeing in longevity, and you can improve in each area. What we’ve been missing is a practical vocabulary and approach to maximizing the quality of our long lives. It’s not enough to have a long lifespan and healthspan; we want what I call a long joyspan. Joyspan, or the experience of well​being and satisfaction in longevity, matters because without it, long life is a drag. The American Psychological Association defines joy as the feeling that arises from a sense of well​being or satisfaction. Experiencing joy is different from feeling happy. Happiness comes and goes and is often dependent on external circumstances. Joy can be experienced even in adverse situations. More akin to contentment than to ecstasy, joy may show up in the form of a smile, but many times it does not. You cannot always ascertain someone’s joy by observing them. One older woman looking at the trees through her window may be lonely and miserable, while a different older woman looking at the same trees may be experiencing great joy. Regardless of your current age, you hold one of two mindsets: ageing as decline or ageing as continued growth. The decline mindset believes everything gets worse as you grow older and then you die. Sadly, this mindset is the most prevalent. The growth mindset sees ageing as a time of continued progress in becoming who you are. This mindset recognizes not only the challenges and losses of growing older but also the opportunities and strengths. Take my neighbor Dee, who is 81. A few days ago, I saw her on her front porch while I was walking the dogs, and she waved me over so she could tell me all about her sore hands, the “absolute drivel” on TV, and how bad the hot weather makes her feel. Because Dee sees her life as a downward freefall, she’s stopped showing up for it. She does not pursue her former interests, reach out to friends, or challenge herself. The long hours spent in her recliner have seriously weakened her legs, which she blames on the curse of being old. Our conversations never have room for topics beyond her discomfort. Despite our many conversations, Dee doesn’t know anything about me other than the fact that I have two golden retrievers. There isn’t any space for me to share my life, because her life, as miserable as she finds it, is the topic that dominates her mind. Dee definitely holds a decline mindset. I often run into another neighbor, Joan, who walks the same loop I do. I absolutely love it when I run into Joan. She is 82 and just radiant. Soon after our middle daughter was diagnosed with a brain tumor, I saw Joan and she noticed right away that something was off. She asked me what was going on in a way that felt safe for me to share. She listened intensely, then suggested ways to adjust to this “new normal”. Joan has had so many new normals. Always very interested in something – a new plant she’s potted, a new recipe, an interesting book, an upcoming art exhibit – Joan has a growth mindset. Growing older is about, well, growing, about becoming. Joan knows that interior strengths can continue to develop throughout life. I once told Joan how much I admire her attitude, and she laughed, saying: “I find life fascinating. I’m still growing now, just as I have in every other phase of my life.”
By Tara Kendrick March 21, 2025
Social Security Updates: What You Need to Know in 2025 The Social Security Administration (SSA) is implementing significant changes to its security protocols and service delivery methods in 2025. These updates will affect how beneficiaries interact with the agency and manage their accounts. Here's what you need to know: Your Social Security Online Account Is Now Essential Since 2012, the SSA's online account system has evolved into an indispensable tool for anyone who works or plans to collect Social Security benefits. Under new anti-fraud measures, certain actions can only be completed through your personal online account: Applying for benefits Changing direct deposit information Accessing benefit verification letters Checking earnings records Downloading benefit statements and 1099s Without an online account, you'll need to verify your identity in person at a field office, which now requires an appointment and potentially long wait times. Enhanced Security Measures The SSA has strengthened its identity verification procedures to combat fraud: Login.gov is now the primary authentication method (replacing the previous username/password system) Two-factor authentication is required for all accounts Photo ID verification is mandatory for account setup Direct deposit changes will now process in one business day (previously 30 days for online changes) These new security protocols take full effect on March 31, 2025. Benefits of Your Social Security Account Your online account provides valuable planning tools: 1. **Retirement Estimator**: Calculate benefits based on different retirement scenarios 2. **Earnings Record Access**: View your complete earnings history to check for errors 3. **Benefit Verification**: Download official letters confirming your benefit amount for loans or other purposes 4. **Tax Documents**: Access your SSA-1099 forms going back to 2019 Setting Up Your Account The SSA now uses Login.gov for account creation and management. To set up your account: 1. Visit ssa.gov/myaccount 2. Use a supported browser (Chrome, Edge, or Safari) 3. Enter your email and verify it 4. Create a strong password 5. Set up two-factor authentication (options include text message codes, authentication apps, or security keys) 6. Upload a photo of your driver's license or passport Service Delivery Changes Under pressure from cost-cutting initiatives, the SSA is considering significant changes to its service model: Possible reduction in telephone services for claims processing Greater emphasis on online self-service Limited availability of in-person appointments Staffing changes affecting agency expertise, as many experienced employees approach retirement Why This Matters These changes reflect the SSA's dual focus on enhancing security and modernizing service delivery. While the new protocols will help prevent fraud, they may create challenges for those who are less comfortable with digital technology or lack internet access. Financial advisors are encouraging clients of all ages to set up their Social Security accounts now, before they need to access benefits. This proactive approach ensures you'll have secure, convenient access to your information when you need it most. As these changes continue to roll out through 2025, staying informed about SSA requirements will be crucial for anyone planning for retirement or currently receiving benefits.
By Tara Kendrick January 30, 2025
How Fixed Indexed Annuities Can Enhance Your Retirement Income Strategy In today's retirement landscape, creating a reliable income stream while managing Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) has become increasingly complex. Fixed indexed annuities (FIAs) with income riders have emerged as a powerful tool to address these challenges, offering retirees a unique combination of growth potential and guaranteed income. Understanding Fixed Indexed Annuities with Income Riders Fixed indexed annuities are insurance contracts that provide returns based on the performance of a market index, such as the S&P 500, while protecting your principal from market downturns. When enhanced with income riders, these products offer additional guaranteed lifetime income benefits that can significantly boost your retirement income strategy. Key Benefits for Retirement Planning Guaranteed Income for Life The income rider attached to your FIA provides a guaranteed stream of income that you cannot outlive. This feature acts as a personal pension, creating a reliable foundation for your retirement income strategy. Unlike traditional investments, this income is guaranteed regardless of market performance. Protection Against Market Volatility While your money has the potential to grow based on market index performance, your principal is protected from market losses. This combination of growth potential and downside protection becomes increasingly valuable as you approach and enter retirement. Efficient RMD Management For retirees aged 73 and older, FIAs offer an efficient way to manage Required Minimum Distributions. The guaranteed income from your annuity can be structured to satisfy RMD requirements, simplifying your retirement income planning. This approach can help you: - Meet IRS distribution requirements systematically - Maintain a predictable income stream - Reduce the complexity of calculating annual RMDs Tax-Efficient Growth The earnings in your FIA grow tax-deferred until withdrawal, potentially allowing for more efficient long-term growth compared to taxable investments. This tax-deferred growth can be particularly valuable in high-tax brackets. Strategic Implementation in Retirement Planning Creating Income Layers Consider using an FIA with an income rider as part of a layered retirement income strategy: 1. Social Security as your base income 2. FIA guaranteed income as your second layer 3. Other investments for additional growth and flexibility Timing Your Purchase The optimal time to purchase an FIA with an income rider often depends on your retirement timeline and income needs. Many financial professionals recommend considering these products 5-10 years before retirement to maximize the benefits of any roll-up periods offered by the income rider. Conclusion Fixed indexed annuities with income riders represent a powerful tool for retirement income planning, particularly for those seeking guaranteed income while managing RMD requirements. By combining principal protection, growth potential, and guaranteed lifetime income, these products can help create a more secure and efficient retirement income strategy. Remember that while FIAs can be valuable retirement planning tools, they should be part of a comprehensive strategy tailored to your specific needs and circumstances. Consulting with a qualified financial professional can help you determine if an FIA with an income rider aligns with your retirement goals and objectives.