Senior Care Live: May 9, 2026

Listen in as host Steve Kuker, President of Senior Care Consulting, visits with JC Pfeister, Owner of Seniors Helping Seniors - KC Metro South.  Steve and JC discuss how Seniors Helping Seniors can help you remain independent at home for years to come.  JC introduces Margie Burton, Caregiver of The Year for Seniors Helping Seniors KC Metro South.  Margie shares stories of how she helps clients live their best life at home, and how she gets as much or more than they do from the interactions with the people she serves.  Listen in to learn how you can become a caregiver with Seniors Helping Seniors, work the flexible hours you want, and find your purpose again, serving those who wish to remain independent at home.  Steve recognizes National Nurse’s Week, clarifies a couple of key points regarding Medicaid, and wishes all the great Moms out there a Happy Mother’s Day!  #SeniorCare #SeniorCareLive #SeniorCareConsulting #SeniorLiving #KansasCitySeniorCare #SeniorCarePlacement #SeniorCareAdvisor #Franchise #SeniorCareFranchise #SandwichGeneration #HomeCare  

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Transcript

Speaker 5 0:01

Are you caring for an aging loved woman? Are you a senior searching for an interest? Welcome to Senior Care Live, a program dedicated to you providing information, education, and resources for seniors and their caregivers. And now, America's Senior Care Consultant, Steve Kuker.

Speaker 3 0:23

Hello, and welcome to Senior Care Live. I'm Steve Kuker, your senior care consultant, and I really appreciate you tuning in today. We have a wonderful program for you with my friend and special guest in studio, Mr. JC Pfeister. He's the owner and operator of a wonderful home care company called Seniors Helping Seniors, KC Metro South. And JC, welcome back to Senior Care Live. Thanks for having me back on, Steve. I really appreciate it. All right. I love when we get together, and everything that we talk about is super important. And just I always want to review the services because you provide such an important service for those for those in need in our community.

Speaker 2 1:05

Yeah, thank you. We are an in-home care agency and we service both the southern part of Kansas City in the Kansas side and also the Missouri side. So the services that we provide is companionship, lighthouse work, meal prep. We'll run errands for folks. We take them to appointments. We do all of the personal care, so toileting, bathing, grooming, assistance with dressing. We do respite care, Parkinson's care, dementia care, all the way up to 24 by 7 care. We have a phenomenal team of caregivers that, again, are servicing the Kansas City metro area and really excited about the growth that we've seen.

Speaker 3 1:38

Yeah, you're growing and for good reason because you do a fantastic job. and I have a client and we're going to be on a pretty good waiting list, and so dad's going home, and he's going to need all of those things that you just mentioned. That's great. to stay safely at home, and then he's going to have home health in for some therapy and that sort of thing. And this could be for six to twelve months, maybe something like that. and then we'll help him move into a senior care community. So what makes seniors helping seniors KC Metro South different from most other home care providers in Kansas City?

Speaker 2 2:13

Yeah, absolutely. It's our team. And it's our team, it's our back office team. We have over 50 years of experience in our back office, and it's also our caregiver team. We are very blessed in terms of the caregivers that we have. we have right at 100 caregivers right now, and so we have CNAs, we have retired nurses, and then we just have a really good pocket of do-gooders. So think of people who have maybe volunteered at their church, they've volunteered at Meals on Wheels, they have a real passion for giving back to the community, and we've been be able to build our team accordingly.

Speaker 3 2:48

All right, excellent, excellent. Speaking of caregivers, you brought a wonderful lady here today. She's one of your caregivers.

Speaker 2 2:57

Tell us about Margie. Yeah, Margie Burton. So we are so excited to have Margie here. She's blushing. I'm not trying to make you blush, Margie. I am not. But Margie was the Seniors Helping Seniors Caregiver of the Year in Kansas City last year, and she just does a phenomenal job for us, and it's been really good to have Margie on the team and the servicing that she provides our clients on a day in and day out basis. She's never afraid to jump in. And our clients, her clients, love her.

Speaker 3 3:33

Well, I just met her just a few minutes ago, and I like you already.

Speaker 3:39

So thank you. I like you too, Steve.

Speaker 3 3:42

So, Margie, welcome to Senior Care Live. Tell us a little bit about Margie Burton.

Speaker 3:48

All right. Well, I've spent a whole lot of my time helping other people because it's part of who I think I am. there was, years ago I read a quote that said, as one person, I can't change the world, but I can change the world for one person. Oh, oh that's a good one. At that point, I started working with the uplift organization serving the homeless downtown. I did that for 17 years, and then I became a CASA court-appointed special advocate for foster children. And then I met this lovely man, and he asked me if I'd like to be a caregiver. And I was like, yeah.

Speaker 4:24

I would. And in between all that, I rode horses long distance.

Speaker 3 4:27

Okay, all right. Well, see, so you sound like the perfect person to become a caregiver with seniors helping seniors. So what is your role and what do you do with seniors helping seniors?

Speaker 4:39

Well, I think as a caregiver, sometimes when you just hear the word caregiver, you think you go in and you just do the housework and stuff. But I think what I do most is I like to go in and make sure when I've left they've smiled or they've laughed or they've had a moment where they feel good about themselves again, because some of these people are struggling to stay independent. So I'm not only a caregiver, I try to give kindness and love.

Speaker 3 5:04

Well, that's excellent. And a lot of these individuals I'm not speaking for you, but a lot of people are a little bit isolated, they're lonely. maybe they don't have family, or maybe their family is thousands of miles away. You become a little bit of a surrogate family and part of part of their inner circle, if you will.

Speaker 5:24

I think we do. And I think it goes both ways. These people have given me a new purpose. When I quit working with the homeless, I was just playing pickleball and doing stuff. And suddenly, after I met JC and I started working here, I feel like I have a real purpose in life again. So they're giving back to me as much as I give to them.

Speaker 3 5:41

I love that. I love that. and you mentioned serving the homeless downtown. we're not doing it anymore, but I, for a long time, I played in a Christian band, and we played contemporary Christian music, and we would serve the homeless downtown. We always got more out of it than they did. Absolutely. Every single time. And I so I know that feeling for sure. So, Margie, give us an example of just a typical day in the life of being a caregiver at seniors helping seniors.

Speaker 6:11

Steve, this is really interesting because I have two that two clients that I see weekly. Okay, the same two. One of them, what we do is she has some memory issues and has a hard time, she has to stay home. So I pick her up and for three hours we go to lunch, we go shopping, we go look at dogs at you know, one of the pet stores, and we just spend time being friends and we laugh and giggle and we sound like 14-year-old girls. It's absolutely ridiculous. And we have so much fun for three hours. Yeah. And then the other lady I serve that I love, she's like my mother now. She's 96 and blind and living independently.

Speaker 1 6:49

Oh wow.

Speaker 6:50

I go in there and I, you know, we fix lunch for her, I help her shower, and then my favorite part of working with her is about oh, 10, 20 minutes before I leave, I make her a rob roy. Do you even know what a rob roy is?

Speaker 3 7:03

it's a drink, isn't it?

Speaker 7:05

It certainly is. It's with Scotch. I don't drink, but I can make a mean rob roy now.

Speaker 3 7:08

Yeah. I've never had one, but I've heard of it.

Speaker 7:11

So she has helped me learn to be a bartender.

Speaker 3 7:14

Well, you're having all this fun and running, like you said, giggling 14-year-old girls. You get paid to do this.

Speaker 7:20

This is ridiculous. When JC first called me, I thought it was a volunteer because that's all I've ever done is volunteer. And then he said, no, we're going to pay you. And I'm like, Like, what's wrong with you?

Speaker 3 7:29

I would do this for free. JC, um, take it. Oh, no.

Speaker 7:34

I said last week, don't put me on your volunteer skill.

Speaker 2 7:39

All of our employees are W-2 employees, Steve.

Speaker 3 7:43

That is that is awesome. tell us about this the warm handoff. So JC's mentioned that. I think this is a differentiator, and I think it's a really big deal. So you have been a part of a number of these. So what is that and how does it go?

Speaker 8:01

I didn't even understand it when I first started, but when I first met my 96-year-old lady, what happened was they told me where her apartment was. I went to it, and one of the back office ladies was there, I think somebody was in there with the woman I was meeting with our client, and so we had a chance, the three of us, to get to know each other. So it wasn't uncomfortable for the client to say, well, this strange woman's walking in my door.

Speaker 3 8:24

Somebody just knocked on my door. And especially so is she's blind.

Speaker 3 8:28

And so that's the ,you have, there's an extra level of trust if you're blind and letting someone in your door. That's a big deal.

Speaker 8:35

Right. And she had met several people with seniors helping seniors, so she was comfortable.

Speaker 3 8:39

Okay.

Speaker 8:40

So when I came in, they introduced me and then we became comfortable.

Speaker 3 8:43

And so the warm handoff, JC, again, is just you have someone from the office with the client, and then the caregiver comes in and there's the introduction. You want to make sure it's the right fit and some other things, too.

Speaker 2 8:54

Yeah, typically it's the individual that comes out and does the home visit and the assessment that's going to come back with that warm handoff and introduce our caregiver to the client. And that really gives us a chance to, you know, we take a lot of pride in the relationships that we build and knowing our caregivers and knowing our clients is to be able to put eyes on that and making sure that, you know, that connection that we think is going to be there is actually there.

Speaker 3 9:16

Perfect, perfect. That is so good. Margie, what do you like the most about working with seniors, helping seniors?

Speaker 9:23

I just love the people, but I have to say, on top of that, the back office personnel that JC has hired are amazing. I mean, I can call them with any question, anytime, day or night. I'll text them and they answer me. They're wonderful. I can't imagine working with anyone else, but I love my two clients.

Speaker 3 9:40

All right. So if you want to have fun. So Margie's like, are you going to pay me for this? I thought it was a volunteer thing. Right? If you want to have fun, make a meaningful impact with the people you're caring for. JC, what's the best way for someone to reach out and contact you about that?

Speaker 2 9:58

Well, you can go to the Seniors Helping Seniors website. You can call us as well at 913-407-7550. We are always looking for caregivers and would love to talk with you.

Speaker 3 10:09

And you're growing very quickly. And so if this is resonating with you, one of the listeners, or maybe you know of someone, we need to get together. This is a fantastic opportunity with a growing, wonderful home care company. We're going to have more with JC and Margie coming right up. First, let's not forget about the Senior Care Live question of the week. You must be at least age 65 or older to apply for a job with seniors helping seniors. Is that statement true or false? What do you think?

Speaker 5 10:43

You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit SeniorCareLive.com.

Speaker 3 11:40

Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For more information, visit SeniorCareLive.com. Now back to the Senior Care Live question of the week. You must be at least age 65 or older to apply for a job with seniors helping seniors. Is that statement true or false? And the answer is false. The answer is false.

Speaker 2 12:34

And JC, why is that statement false? Steve, as we're building our team in Kansas City, we're looking for individuals that have got great life experience and caregiving experience. We're looking for people that are relatable and reliable. And so we have caregivers that are in their 40s. We have caregivers that are in their 80s. And I would say this caregivers that are in their 80s, they can run circles around me. Yeah. The energy, the enthusiasm. It's not as hard to run circles around me as it as it maybe used to be, but um they bring it every day for our clients, and that's and that's really neat to see. Average caregivers, right, at 62 years old. Yeah. Again, we are consistently looking for folks that want to make a difference with seniors in Kansas City.

Speaker 3 13:16

And so if someone would like to reach out and say, you know what, Margie's having too much fun, I want to have some of that fun.

Speaker 2 13:22

How do they reach out to you? Go to the Seniors Helping Seniors website or they can contact us or directly at 913-407-7550.

Speaker 3 13:32

So Margie, Margie Burton, caregiver of the year last year, that's pretty phenomenal. I can see why already. So you're so personable, and I can tell you have a heart for this. Yeah, there's no doubt about it. I am so impressed with you. So how did you hear about seniors helping seniors? Like you your volunteering had ended, you're bored playing pickleball, you're kind of looking for it for the next thing to do, and you meet JC. How did that happen?

Speaker 14:00

Well, my daughter, Heather, worked with his wife, Danny, and they were talking one day, and she mentioned that JC was going to start a new company, was buying a franchise, and she thought I should meet him because it sounded just up my alley. And I'm like, okay. So JC called and we went out to lunch, and I'm like, I'm a good volunteer. I bet he'd like me. And then he said Yeah. He explained the whole how he was doing this, and I was just caught immediately. I was on the hook. Yeah. You're like, all right, that's right down. That's right down the middle for me. I said, I'll start today. It's fine. Then he told me I got paid.

Speaker 3 14:33

Yeah. And then you're like, you're kidding. Okay, that's about it. So, that's incredible. So this probably is a dumb question at this point. Would you recommend the job? Would you recommend come on board with seniors, helping seniors?

Speaker 14:45

Actually, I don't think that's a dumb question because I would recommend it to anybody, but it's like every other job. Some people have a passion for it and others don't. I mean, if you ask me to do some statistical job, I would run away screaming.

Speaker 1 14:59

.

Speaker 14:59

And there are people who say this doesn't sound like me, but if you are a person who cares and has compassion and just likes being out there and helping other people, this is the place to work.

Speaker 3 15:09

Yeah, it has to be the right person, it has to be the right fit. You have to have a heart of a caregiver and a servant heart, right? I mean, you have to you have to love it. That's right. Yeah.

Speaker 15:16

So yes, I would advise everybody to try it, but it's not for everybody. But this company is amazing and JC picks wonderful people. Yeah. I just I would say if this is your if this is what you love to do, get on over there.

Speaker 3 15:32

And like you said, you were missing some purpose and some passion and this absolutely filled that for you.

Speaker 15:38

They give me more back, I think, than I give them. It's a lovely thing.

Speaker 3 15:42

Well, that that's wonderful. So do you work full-time, part-time particular days? I mean, how does this work for you?

Speaker 15:49

I work part-time. Yeah. I Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday. But small hours. Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, it's two hours in the morning each day. And the nice thing about seniors helping seniors, he's taken on so many wonderful caregivers. I'm going to go out of town on vacation to see my grandson graduate from college. Okay. He has people who can fill in. You never feel like you're going to leave your people alone. Okay. There's always a fill-in, and I love that part of it.

Speaker 3 16:15

That is excellent. What's the most rewarding part of your job?

Speaker 16:19

the smiles, is the joy we share with each other when I'm with my clients. It doesn't feel like a client. I don't even use that word.

Speaker 3 16:26

It's like a friend or a client sounds too distant. There way more is way more personal for you.

Speaker 16:31

Well, and especially after a couple of months of working with the same people, you just become family. These are people you're right when you said that a lot of them want the one lady I have who's blind, her only son lives in California.

Speaker 1 16:42

Oh wow.

Speaker 16:43

So she doesn't have family here, so we are.

unknown 16:45

Yeah.

Speaker 16:46

And we care about her and worry about her and we want to take care of her.

Speaker 3 16:49

So when you meet with one of your what are some of the things that you that you do for them?

Speaker 16:56

Well, for the we do just about every we get there in time to order her lunch, and then I go pick it up and I make sure that it's cut up and so she can feed herself. She likes to do that. I help her shower, make her bed, do her laundry, all the little things. Nothing enormous. I don't clean the whole apartment, but just the little things that make her life easier.

Speaker 3 17:14

Super important. And that allows her to remain independent with a little bit of help from you.

Speaker 17:18

Absolutely. She couldn't do it without someone there, and I'm glad it's us.

Speaker 3 17:22

And then one of the other things you do is you're you tend bar. I do whip up the mixed drinks.

Speaker 17:27

Not only I bar bartender, I am now a fingernail expert. Oh, okay. Yes, I do nails.

Speaker 3 17:33

All right. That's very nice. So what would you like to say for anyone listening, whether it's the radio broadcast or afterwards on the podcast, who may be interested in applying for a job at seniors helping seniors? what would you say to that person?

Speaker 17:48

I would say you should go and talk to JC and meet with him and understand what we're doing. It's a it's a wonderful job. I would do it for free. Don't you listen to me, JC. I mean, it's a wonderful job. You're helping people. You're making someone's life slightly better, even if it's just for two hours. You're making someone smile and feel loved and taken care of. And I take more home from that than they get.

Speaker 3 18:12

Well, and I love one of your first stories is you load her up and you and you take off in the car.

Speaker 18:18

We do, we just go have fun.

Speaker 3 18:23

And what a gift that is for that person. Because if you weren't doing that for her, she would just be kind of stuck at home and not able to get out, and then you become isolated, and then you become withdrawn, and then depression sets in, and all these things. You're completely reversing that for this lady.

Speaker 18:42

Right. And I think what you find when you do this, you see yourself in the future. I mean, we're all probably going to get there if we're lucky to live long enough. And I want to treat them the way I hope someone someday will treat me.

Speaker 3 18:54

That is excellent. So, JC, I can see why Margie Burton is the was the caregiver of the year. She may go two in a row. I don't know. She might, Steve.

Speaker 2 19:06

She really might.

Speaker 3 19:08

So wow, what I mean, I Margie, I'm so impressed. So what's the call to action? I get I'll guarantee you, we're reaching some people and they're like, I want to do that. That that really sounds fantastic. So, best way just to, like you said, just go to the website. So seniors, you type it, it's spelled just exactly how it sounds seniorshelping seniors.com, and then they would just put in the zip code and your KC Metro South would pop right up.

Speaker 2 19:36

It's going to pop up, or they can call our office as well. And I say the call to action, Steve, is that when I started this business, it was about making a difference in the community. A community that's given a lot to my wife and I. And so from that perspective is that we're looking for like-minded individuals that really want to make a difference in the community as well. And so, you know, as you guys have talked, if that's something that resonates with our listeners, I'd ask that they give us a call. We are growing and continue to grow, and we need to be able to keep up with the demand, right, that we have for new clients. And that that requires finding fantastic caregivers just like just like Margie.

Speaker 3 20:17

Excellent. Reach out to Seniors Helping Seniors, KC Metro South, 913-407-7550, or just visit online at seniorshelping seniors.com. And JC and Margie, thanks so much for being here today. It was fantastic.

Speaker 20:31

This was fun. It was fun.

Speaker 2 20:34

It was, and thanks for having us back on, Steve. We appreciate you. And like I've said before, we've got a lot of respect for you and what you do in the community as well. Thank you. Thank you very much. We'll have more coming right up.

Speaker 5 20:44

You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. Have a question? Visit SeniorCareLive.com. Stick around. We'll have more with Steve coming up next.

Speaker 3 22:07

Welcome back. You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. For podcasts of the program, visit SeniorCareLive.com or wherever you get your podcast. And let me say this: a lot of people, they're not sure, is this a broadcast, a podcast, yes and yes. there are a lot of podcasts out there in the world. There are a lot of really good ones. and actually I forgot to ask JC about how his podcast is going. We'll talk about that next time. But this first and foremost, it is a radio broadcast. And so every Saturday morning at 11 a.m. Talk980AM right here in the KC Metro an Audacy Station, and then Saturday afternoons at 3 p.m. And that's on the FM side of things, 98.1 FM. So each and every Saturday, that's where you tune in to Senior Care Live. I almost said seniors helping seniors. I'll talk more about that in a second. But after the broadcast, so that following week, it's turned into a podcast. It's posted on our website at seniorcare live.com. Go to the podcast tab and you have everything in order from the newest one and then going backwards in that chronological order. And it's also then distributed out to all of the major podcast platforms. you can listen to that both ways. So if you miss one and you read about it in social media or you maybe you follow us Facebook or Instagram LinkedIn or X or whatever it is, you're like, man, that sounds like a really good topic. I'm sorry, I'm going to miss that. I have a graduation or I have something going on. Well, just go back and check it out on the podcast, and you won't miss that. And again, Margie Burton came in with JC Pfeister, Seniors Helping Seniors. I can see exactly why Margie was the Seniors Helping Seniors Caregiver of the Year. She's fantastic. And you couldn't see her face, but I hope you heard that over the radio. She loves what she does. And she wants to help people, she wants to make an impact. She said, I get more out of it, I think, than they do. And that she's the perfect person to become a caregiver with seniors helping seniors. And again, if that resonates with you, a lot of people are they retire and they're like, okay, what is my purpose? I want to do something. Why I want to volunteer? Well, Margie was volunteering with you know several really important volunteer roles, and then that that came to an end. And she's like, Okay, well, what am I going to do? Play pickleball, you know, from now until forever. And then she finds out about JC, seniors helping seniors, and then she was even surprised. Oh, you get paid to do that? Oh my gosh, right? again, if that resonates with you, or if you know someone that needs to hear about that, maybe needs to be introduced to just reach out and give them a call or visit the website. it's I mean it's a fantastic company. JC is as good as it gets. And I'll tell you what, the proof is in the pudding. Their company is exploding. So if you're interested in becoming a caregiver with them, please reach out and it's a great place to be. All right, so this past week was Nurses' Day and Nurses Week. Nurses Day was Wednesday, May the 6th. so just think of Cinco de Mayo plus one, right? So you can have all the tacos on Cinco de Mayo and then thank your nurse the next day on May the 6th, every single year. And so my wife happens to be a registered nurse with KU, KU Medical Center in the health system, and she works with some awesome doctors in a physician's group and she works her tail off. She loves her clients. She I I'm in business mode here. She loves her patients and they love her. They give her the highest marks, and I'll tell you what, she's the type of person that says, if I'm waiting on some test results or lab results, and I'm super nervous about it, I would hope that someone would stay late that day and take the time to call me back so that my mind could be relieved with these test results. Or I would know, you know, what happened with the test results. She's that person. She will not leave the office until everyone gets a call back because she would hope that someone would do that with her. That's the kind of person that she is. I mean, she bends over backwards, she just loves on everybody, and she's , I'm just I'm bragging about my wife, but it's all true. It's all a hundred percent true. And so if you have a special person in your life and that person is a nurse, that's some hard work. That's some hard work. Think about all of the nurses and all of the medical professionals in medicine and in senior care and all of health care during COVID. Oh my goodness. You know, right at the very beginning of COVID, we had no clue how bad this was or if it wasn't as bad, or we just we didn't have much information at all. So she went to work, of course, they wore their masks and all the PPE and the gloves and the all the stuff, but then she came home and we didn't know how bad this was. So we had this routine. She would take her scrubs off in the garage and bring them in and drop them straight into the wash machine and wash the scrubs and then change into some clean clothing. We did that for quite a while until we figured out, okay, maybe that's not totally necessary, but we just didn't know. She didn't want to drag you know any kind of virus, unintentionally into the house and maybe infect the family and all that stuff. So that's just that's what happened early on. it was she made it through that whole thing, and a lot of nurses didn't, and a lot of healthcare people working in the healthcare profession, they're like, you know what? I didn't sign up for all this. I don't I don't think I can deal with this. I'm out. And the healthcare profession, as far as it took a huge hit, a huge hit. But my wife made it through all of that. She loves her patients, they love her. Did I mention that? congratulations to all of the fantastic nurses out there. I hope you had a wonderful week and a special day on the 6th. honey, I love you and a happy belated nurses' day. I already told her. I already told her on Wednesday. Anyway, because it was this past Wednesday. So and then while we're talking about medical people and medical stuff very recently we had Doctor's Day, and I meant to mention a couple physicians, and I ran out of time and I kind of dropped the ball. So I want to circle and just say a heartfelt thank you two physicians who performed this miraculous surgery on me. It was just right at a year ago that I had brain surgery KU Medical Center downtown. Dr. Beahm is my and I can't even pronounce his specialty. I don't want to embarrass myself he's the nose surgeon, right? He went up through my nose, created the path then Dr. Chamoun, who is the neurosurgeon, the brain surgeon, to go through the path that was created into the area. Don't know all technical terms, and took care of a pesky and annoying arachnoid cyst that is in my brain. It was kind of swelling up like a big balloon that's not supposed to be there. So he just cut a big hole out of that thing and the tissue collapsed, no more pressure on everything, and cerebral fluid can come and go as it pleases, and all of that took five hours of a meticulous, tedious surgery. And I woke up and I'm like, you know, thank God I'm here, I'm still here. And they did, I can't even tell you what a fantastic job they did. and I woke up in ICU and Dr. Beahm comes in and I said, Doctor, how did it go? And he said, Textbook perfect. He said, Steve, it couldn't have gone any better. And I'm like, that's as good as it gets. I gave him a high five. Dr. Chamoun comes in to ICU room. Dr. Chamoun, how are you? Thank you so much. How did it go? And he said the exact same thing. He said, Steve, it could not have gone better. It was just textbook perfect, absolutely perfect. That is as good as it gets. And I just wanted to publicly say thank you to Dr. Beahm, thank you to Dr. Chamoun for saving my life, saving my eyesight. This thing was stretching my optic nerve to the breaking point. If I would have gone a little bit longer and that nerve breaks, I would be permanently blind. It could cause other problems. so they caught it in the nick of time and I just I can't thank them enough. So, anyway, if you if you know some nurses out there, say thank you to them for all of the great work that they do. they are in many ways the unsung heroes. Now, during COVID, they were heroes, right? not all heroes wear capes. They were just incredibly celebrated as they should be. and again, if you if you see your doctor and they're doing a great job for you, just be sure to say thanks. Just say thank you to them. a lot of times people kind of take them for granted. You should not do that. Tell them thank you if they're doing a great job for you and let them know how much you care about them and how much you think about them and the great work that they do. So we couldn't I'll tell we just we have the greatest health care system in the in the world. I know a lot of people might want to argue with me about that, but there's no doubt about it in my mind. I just want to thank all of the medical professionals who serve all of us each and every day. Thank you so very much. And I'll have more coming up next.

Speaker 5 32:43

You're listening to Senior Care Live on the Senior Care Broadcasting Network. To contact Steve or a guest on his show, visit SeniorCareLive.com. We'll have more coming up.

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each state gets its own money and they and they have their own rules and regulations. Now they're all very, very similar, but there are some differences. And one of the differences that you can take advantage of is the difference between Kansas and Missouri. So for example, I have worked with many living in Missouri. They own property in Missouri, they're Missouri residents, and we have chosen a Kansas-based long-term care community or nursing home for you know for one of one of the in the in the couple, the husband or the to receive their care. If that occurs, then the Kansas rules apply. Even if the other spouse is living in Missouri. So here's an example. I worked with a really nice lady, her husband had a lot of medical challenges, and he was in long-term care on the Missouri side. It was costing her an absolute fortune. And she said, at this rate, I am literally going to be out of money. And now what and then and then we're both out of money. So what are we going to do? And so I talked to her about the division of assets. This must be accomplished and handled and processed by an elder law attorney. Well, Steve, they cost money. Okay, it's the best money you're going to spend. I'll just tell you that right now. Okay, so don't be shy about that. It's going to be worth it. I it's the best money you're going to spend. So what they do is they divide the assets on paper so that he gets half the assets, she gets half the assets. He spends his side down to, and I think I I touched on this quite a bit last week, $5,909 in Missouri, $2,000 in the state of Kansas, and boom. That triggers Medicaid, and Medicaid would start paying that daily rate for your stay in long-term care. So in Missouri, the at-home spouse, if that person has retirement accounts, IRAs, 401ks, those are the two big ones. Okay, and this lady did, she had about $300,000 in a 401k that she had just retired recently, and she said, I worked at Sprint for a long time, I saved a lot of money, that's a big part of my retirement, and I just can't lose it. I I cannot lose that. And if we stay in Missouri, I could lose half of that. Now, some other things you could do, okay, and I won't get into all of that. I'm going to have an elder law attorney fairly soon to explain in more detail. But if her husband moves to receive care in the state of Kansas, then the Kansas rules apply. And here is the giant state difference that can make a huge, huge impact, particularly for this lady, but for everyone in this situation. The Kansas rules say that the at-home spouse, the community spouse, their retirement accounts are exempt, they're off the table, they do not have to be divided into half. You don't have to spend half of it. Okay. So in this case, she had this $300,000, from sprint, 401k. That was a big, huge part of her retirement. Uh and then they had some combined accounts for a small amount. They split that in two, he spent his side down and and qualified for Medicaid. But she essentially protected all of her 401k because of the Kansas rules. Now, I've had people on the Kansas side working in some of the long-term care communities, and they want to argue with me about this. Well, that's not right because they own property in Missouri. Well, it doesn't matter. Yeah, but they're they haven't spent any time in the state of Kansas, so they're not a resident. Yeah, it doesn't matter. Yes, they are. Here's how this works. If you move to the state of Kansas and move into a long-term care community, here this is the key phrase with the intent to stay. And of course, this gentleman intends to stay and receive care for the rest of his life, you are automatically considered a Kansas resident. Kansas rules apply. And it made a huge difference for her. Now, I've also had other people say, Well, Steve, you're just trying to you're just trying to save money and have the state and the taxes, yeah, taxpayers pay for that care, and that's not fair, and that's not right. Well, yeah, is it is right, and here's why. Because when he goes to the nursing home, his income also goes to the nursing home. She took a huge hit in the monthly income coming into their home because his income follows him to the nursing home. So here's what happens on the income side of things. You take his income right off the top of your monthly income. You pay your Medicare insurance premium. And so if you have a plan F or a plan G or a plan you might be paying, you know, $100 and $150, maybe upwards of $300 a month. That's your health insurance. So the government wants you to keep your health insurance in force, so it comes right off the top of your income. Then in the state of Kansas, you get to keep $62 a month. Now, don't spend it all in one place. Right? In the state of Missouri, you get to keep $50 a month. That's just some spending money for a little bit of this or that. Okay? And then whatever's left over, whatever's left over. So your total, your monthly income, pay for your Medicare premiums, you keep a couple of bucks, whatever's left over goes to the nursing home as a copay. Technically, it's the patient liability. And then Medicaid pays them the difference. That's how it works. And then the nursing home typically has a write-off. So let's say they normally charge $350 a day. They may accept $300 a day from the Medicaid program as payment in full. They write off the $50 essentially as a contractual allowance. They can't charge anyone for that because they have agreed by the contract to accept $300 a day as their payment in full. So they offer a little bit of a discount per day. The individual pays what they can pay, and then Medicaid pays the difference. And it's usually the majority of the cost. That's exactly how that works. And then, gosh, maybe I'll have to do this next week. There's a minimum amount that the at-home spouse can keep, and I'm not going to get into all of that today. Maybe we'll talk about that next week. Okay, but the bottom line is usually my clients are noticing anywhere from about a 30 to about a 70% decrease in monthly income. So that's why it is so incredibly important to do this division of assets and to do all these things right. Protect what you can protect so that the at-home spouse does not become impoverished due to the cost of the nursing home care for the other spouse, the institutionalized spouse. That's how the language reads in the regulations. All right. Hopefully that helps. If you have questions, give me a call at Senior Care Consulting, 913-945-2800, or online at senior careconsulting.com. And last but not least, Happy Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to my mom, to my lovely wife, and all of the wonderful mothers out there. I hope you're having a wonderful day. Happy Mother's Day. All right, I'm Steve Kuker, and I wish you grace and peace. May God bless you and your family on this day and always. Join me next week, right here on Senior Care Live.