KIM: The Farmer’s Journey with a Heavy Farmer, a View from the Death of a Lophete

KIM: While I was in the area, Cindie was going to sell their truck and then sadly died two months later. Despite her grief, Cindie is still protecting their farm. She says as long as she stays healthy for the next two years until Medicaid kicks in, the land can stay in their family.

Friends from both old and new attended his service. As the weeks went by, other farmers reached out and shared their stories about her husband, which were new to her.

“They work their whole life, they pay their own bills,” he said. Suddenly, when they need the most aid to get to the finish line, they have to give up everything they have accumulated in order to get that help.

The cost of senior care: Why aging farmers fear the nursing home, and an emergency room in Fargo, N.D., according to Moore

Moore called long-term care needs one of the biggest threats today to small family farms. He said farmers go to great lengths and years of planning to protect their land in their golden years. But with soaring costs and an aging boomer population, he expects the problem to only grow.

He was taken to an emergency room in Fargo, N.D., after collapsing at home, which left his health in a bad shape. Over the course of four months, he was taken to the ER six times, according to Cindie.

Each time felt like a close call. It is difficult for the EMTs to find the home at night. It was impossible for Cindie to drive him to the hospital herself, because she is a foot shorter than him.

Although the nursing home was just a 20-minute drive from their home, it was hard for him to settle in. The Haakensons were always close to home. They preferred the quiet, and although they had traveled across the country, their favorite views came from their family room window.

Source: The cost of senior care: Why aging farmers fear the nursing home

Farm Farming and Long-Term Care: Stories from the Haakensons, Minnesota, Farmers and a Californian Law Attorney at German Law

His family was one of many Norwegian immigrants who came to the area. He was born in a town that had over 500 residents. Now, it’s just shy of 150 people and the grocery store, the high school, and two bars he once enjoyed are all closed.

Small family farmers are often “land rich, cash poor,” meaning their assets are tied up in their farm and equipment, according to Moore from Ohio State University.

Farmers who have their land worth less than one million dollars are more at risk of losing their farm over long-term care costs, according to the lead Attorney at German Law.

There are about 1.9 million farms in the United States — 40% of which are owned by farmers 65 and older. According to the Department of Agriculture, a third of farms earned $50,000 or less in sales a year.

The Haakensons sold their equipment a long time ago. Cindie claims that the Chevy pickup truck was the most significant thing left to sell, as it would have helped pay for two months of care.

Long-term care insurance is rife with its own problems, from complex underwriting to rising premiums. German, who has worked with thousands of older farmers to help preserve their estates in North Dakota and Minnesota, said only a tiny fraction of his clients use it.

Short-term care policies are a newer alternative to long-term care insurance, said Lance Boyer, a sales director at Farmers Union Insurance in North Dakota. But their benefits usually last no more than a year.

The cost of senior care: Why aging farmers fear the nursing home: a case study of the Haakensons family farm in North Dakota

“They are really affordable and underwriting is pretty simple,” he said. But “it’s yet to be determined how impactful they are in the market because they’re still so new.”

The choices are especially daunting for small farmers, according to Robert Moore, an attorney and researcher at Ohio State University’s Agricultural & Resource Law Program.

The Department of Health and Human Services has stated that a third of Americans 65 and older will need nursing home care in their lifetime. A semiprivate room today can cost some $8,700 per month — and it’s generally not covered by Medicare. Long-term care insurance exists, but it’s deeply unpopular with older Americans. So, many seniors dip into their retirement or savings to get the care they need, while others apply for Medicaid, which has its own challenges.

The Haakensons own about 2,600 acres in North Dakota’s Willow City area. Most of the small cattle and wheat farm has been in Sherwood’s family for over 130 years. It was in the midst of the farm crisis of the 1980s. Now, the couple confronted a situation many aging family farmers fear: being forced to sell or break up the farm to pay for long-term care.

“We’ve got enough tucked away to keep him for about a year. After that, I’m not sure,” Cindie said. We own farmland that we can sell, however it is like giving away part of your legacy.

Source: The cost of senior care: Why aging farmers fear the nursing home

Why farmers worry about the costs of long-term care: An example from the North Dakota farm-land bordering a neighboring city

Her 74-year-old husband had been having issues with his heart and Kidney, which was causing him to suffer from multiple fainting episodes. He desperately needed a round-the-clock supervision.

KIM: That’s someone from the state of N.D. He farmed all his life on the land that his great-great-grandfather homesteaded in 1890. I met him at a care center in a neighboring city.

KIM: They might sell their livestock or machinery, but that only gets them so far. Farmers apply for Medicaid in order to provide coverage for the poor and elderly. Seniors have to drain their assets in order to be eligible, and it’s different in each state. For farmers, that means their land.

DETROW: This is a dynamic that is really difficult for a lot of people in a lot of walks of life. If you are a farmer and want to apply for Medicaid, you can’t own land anymore.

Kim: Right. Now, some farmers work around that by transferring their land into an irrevocable trust and naming their children as beneficiaries. But in North Dakota and in most states, it still takes five years from the application date before Medicaid will pay for long-term care. When I met them, they had already agreed to transfer their farm land to their children, but they did not get assistance because they were still within a five-year lookback period.

Source: Why farmers worry about the costs of long-term care

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