Estate Planning Strategies: Why Do You Need a Health Care Directive?
By Saghir A. Aslam
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
(The following information is provided solely to educate the Muslim community about investing and financial planning. It is hoped that the Ummah will benefit from this effort through greater financial empowerment, enabling the community to live in security and dignity and fulfill their religious and moral obligations towards charitable activities).
A healthcare directive is a legal document that lets you express your health care preferences and, if you wish, designate authority to someone to make decisions for you if you cannot make them yourself. Some may think this is needed only near the end of life, but that’s not the case. There are other times when a healthcare directive can prove useful, such as:
- Any time you become severely ill or incapacitated-even it for just a short time period.
- If you are a young adult who is over 18 and heading to college.
Health care directives generally do three things.
- One part, often referred to as a living Will or Advance Directive, lets you express your preferences about medical treatment if you become unable to make decisions yourself.
- A Power of Attorney (POA) for healthcare (also known as a Durable POA for Health Care Proxy) lets you designate a trusted person to make decisions for you when you are unable to communicate or make them yourself.
- A privacy authorization under the health insurance portability and accountability Act (HIPAA) makes it possible for health care providers to share private medical information with the agent you designate.
SHORT TERM INCAPACITION
While the corona virus is uppermost in one’s mind, other serious illnesses or limiting medical conditions could create incapacitation. Examples include surgery that will require a longer-than usual recovery period, cancer treatment, side effects from specific medications, and mental health issues.
During such time, you may have peace of mind if you have someone who will be able to communicate with medical professionals, share that information with you later, and even make decisions for you if necessary.
Potential benefits include:
- Helping to ensure that doctors communicate important medical information with your agent, who can keep other family members and other caregivers informed.
- Allowing an authorized person to communicate with insurance companies, billing departments, and schedule appointments on your behalf.
This documentation can be especially important for unmarried individuals. Designating someone in advance is important - not just for you, but for children, parents, partners, friends, or others who care about you and are not left powerless to help.
A health care directive for an adult child
If your child is 18 or older, you may want to make sure he or she executes a health care directive and names an agent, either a trusted friend or relation, who can make decisions.
This is important to ensure that parents, if named as agent, retain the ability to talk with doctors and hospitals and make healthcare decisions if your child is unable to communicate or incapable of making decision on their own. It’s the situation a parent never wants to consider, but you will be thankful for this document if you ever need it.
You may also want to consider the need for parents to communicate with doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and insurance companies from releasing information about a person’s medical record and current condition unless authorization has been given. In many families, a young adult understands why it’s beneficial to ensure that parents can help in the event of a serious illness or medical emergency.
Protecting yourself just makes sense.
Creating a healthcare directive can be part of a wider conversation about estate planning strategies. You will want to consult trusted professionals, including your financial advisor, estate planning attorn, and accountant. They know questions to ask and can help you avoid potential pitfalls.
(Saghir A. Aslam only explains strategies and formulas that he has been using. He is merely providing information, and NO ADVICE is given. Mr Aslam does not endorse or recommend any broker, brokerage firm, or any investment at all, nor does he suggest that anyone will earn a profit when or if they purchase stocks, bonds or any other investments. All stocks or investment vehicles mentioned are for illustrative purposes only. Mr Aslam is not an attorney, accountant, real estate broker, stockbroker, investment advisor, or certified financial planner. Mr Aslam does not have anything for sale.)
