Long-Term Care Planning in Finley

Compare care preferences with practical resources

Start with the care you would want to explore, then compare it with the resources and information you can identify today. Consider what matters to you about care, who you would want involved in discussions, and what information a trusted person may need to help coordinate decisions. Separately list known insurance, income, savings, and other resources for review; this is an inventory, not a prediction of what care will cost or what a program will cover.

Keep preferences and payment questions distinct. A preferred care arrangement does not establish that insurance or a public program will pay for it. Likewise, a financial review does not tell others what care you would choose. A planning discussion can help identify where those questions intersect and what remains uncertain.

• Care preferences and people you want included in planning
• Current insurance and resource information, with documents or statements available for review
• Questions about possible support, including whether TennCare’s CHOICES program may be relevant

Make decision authority clear

List the documents and roles already in place rather than assuming one person can make every kind of decision. A power of attorney authorizes someone to act on another person’s behalf, but its scope, duration, and limits matter. A healthcare agent named in an advance directive has a different role from a financial agent, trustee, or court-appointed guardian or conservator.

Tennessee’s Advance Directive for Health Care form addresses an agent or alternate and healthcare preferences, and includes instructions about signing and sharing copies. Review your existing documents together so the people involved can understand which decisions each document addresses. Do not assume that a financial power of attorney grants healthcare authority, or that a healthcare document gives someone access to financial accounts.

Prepare a one-page coordination sheet

Before a planning conversation, assemble a simple sheet with four headings: care preferences; people and their roles; insurance and resource documents; and unanswered questions. Under each heading, note what is known, where relevant records can be found, and what needs confirmation. Include the names of agents or alternates identified in your documents, but do not treat a name on a list as proof of authority; the governing document and its limits matter.

This sheet can help distinguish a care choice from a funding assumption and a personal preference from legal authority. Keep copies of relevant documents available to the people who may need to coordinate, consistent with the documents’ terms and your wishes.

Ask specific questions about CHOICES and next steps

TennCare’s CHOICES is a Tennessee long-term-services-and-supports program. Both medical and financial requirements apply, so eligibility and available support cannot be assumed from a general planning conversation. Treat CHOICES as a question to investigate, not a promised funding source or a conclusion about coverage.

Dale Law Group, PLLC offers long-term care planning, including discussion of Medicaid planning. For someone in Finley, the firm’s only office is in Murfreesboro; Finley is an unincorporated Census-designated place in Dyer County, not a separate city government.

• Which care preferences should be documented, and who should receive copies?
• Do existing financial and healthcare documents identify the right people and clearly address their roles?
• What records or information would be useful to ask about possible TennCare CHOICES relevance?