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Testimonials
Serious illness does not discriminate. Our clients include people of all ages, from all walks of life and every economic bracket, struggling to provide quality skilled nursing care for their loved ones. Some came to us at the beginning of their search, and we were able to help them save thousands and even tens of thousands on nursing homes costs, and preserved their hard-earned assets. Others were practically bankrupt or facing impoverishment when they discovered our services, but we were still able to offer solutions that kept them solvent and their loved ones provided for. Below are a few of their stories.
J.C. O'Connell
Governmental Affairs, Universal Studios
Reseda, California
NHS gave me peace of mind, and I am thankful for that every day.
My 84-year-old mother has been in a nursing home since 1998, and my father spent almost everything he owned to pay her medical bills. His entire income each month provided for her care, and he depended on my sister and me for his support. Then, like so many retirees, he experienced investment losses and could no longer afford the nursing home costs. My sister and I began contributing to mother's care.
I wondered what we would do if one day my father should also require nursing home care. I began to search the Internet, realizing other people were likely facing the same dilemma. I arrived at NHS’ Web site and sent away for their videotape that explains how they help families like mine. I was impressed with their knowledge and sincerity and relieved to discover they had solutions that would work for me.
NHS helped my father preserve his remaining assets and ensure he will always have a home to live in. They qualified my mother for Medi-Cal, walking us through the process, handling the applications and working with the Medi-Cal bureaucracy. We were delighted that everything was open and aboveboard and satisfied that all their work was in compliance with agency regulations. And they accomplished everything in only one month.
I've learned that there is no financial security when you have someone in a nursing home. You have to be proactive. Few facilities alert you to options other than private payment, and they will likely have little consideration that you have another elderly parent to care for. I encourage anyone in a similar situation to mine to seek out NHS and see what solutions they can provide for you.
Patricia Maxwell
Critical Care Nurse
Valencia, California
When my 54-year-old husband severely injured his spinal cord in a diving accident, I didn’t know where to go to get the help I needed. All I wanted to do was focus on my husband. Instead, I had to deal with insurance and financial issues. I was shocked to discover that his care would cost at least $30,000 a month for an indefinite period. Although we had health insurance, it wouldn't cover everything. I wondered how I was going to manage. Then someone told me about NHS.
The professionals at NHS took the weight off my shoulders. They not only explained how my husband could qualify for Medi-Cal to cover his medical expenses, they took care of all the paperwork and dealt directly with the government agencies on my behalf. They also worked with the insurance company. As a result, whatever insurance does not pay, Medi-Cal covers.
NHS also made certain my husband was transferred to a rehabilitation center close to home so getting to visit him would not be burdensome on me. Their goal was to get us through this crisis as quickly and as worry-free as possible. They freed me to take care of my husband and children and preserved our home and savings. I can’t thank them enough
Sean Markham
Construction Surveyor
Los Angeles, California
If it weren’t for NHS, I don’t know what I would have done. My mother had a very severe stroke at age 53, and all the responsibility for her affairs fell on me. I’m a young man with a new family just getting started in life, and I had no experience caring for a seriously ill person. I tried, but I’m not qualified to give her the quality care she needs. I was under tremendous stress and feeling very depressed. Then a friend referred me to NHS.
I explained to NHS that I was afraid that if I put my mother in a nursing home, everything she had worked hard for all her life would be spent on her care. She had real property and some liquid assets that I felt I had a duty to protect. Since her prognosis for recovery was good, I did not want to leave her with nothing to come home to.
What seemed an insurmountable problem to me, NHS tackled with ease. They explained to me different options, I made some decisions, and they took care of the rest. My mother is now recovering in a nursing home and Medi-Cal is covering her medical expenses.
I am so relieved that I had somewhere to turn during the worst time of my life. I feel that with the help of everyone at NHS I was able to find solutions my mother would appreciate.
Gail Bugliosi
Glendale, California
My, husband and I, were in the process of moving my 86 year old mother into our home when she suffered a stroke that further complicated her early dementia. It became apparent that she needed full time skilled care. We were overwhelmed with all that was involved when faced with the placement of a loved in a skilled nursing home.
We were fortunate to find NHS. While my husband has been in the legal field for many years, this was not his area of expertise. The professionals at NHS took over the entire process. They were competent, professional, courteous and compassionate. With their help my mother was approved for long term care Medi-Cal and we saved sufficient assets to ensure that she will always be cared for. We highly recommend that anyone faced with this crisis contact NHS.
Joan Coleman
Pasadena, California
My mother, my grandmother and my stepfather all needed nursing home care at the same time. Suddenly, I was completely responsible for three people. I had little money and knew nothing about financial matters. I was scared.
But I trusted NHS and have never regretted it. Everyone there was very helpful and supportive. I would never have been able to deal with the Medi-Cal paperwork on my own.
My mother had been caregiving for my grandmother and stepfather for 10 years when she fractured her back. She’s not the kind to ask for help, so when she called me, I knew things were serious. I moved home to help. My mother could barely walk when she was discharged from the hospital.
I knew that even with help I was not able to care for three people at home. I had to place my mother, stepfather and grandmother in a nursing home. For the three of them, it cost more than $10,000 a month. They had worked hard all their lives and owned their own home, but to receive government assistance, it seemed they would have to spend all their money and sell the home to pay the medical expenses. That would leave my mother with nothing after she recovered.
But with NHS' help, we protected my mother’s assets. We bought a new home for her to live in when she came out of the nursing home. But both she and my grandmother died in the middle of all the arrangements. My step-dad is still in a nursing home, and all his expenses are taken care of under Medi-Cal. If he should recover, we have a home for him to live in that is protected from Medi-Cal recovery.
Robert Gibson
Retired Commercial Fisherman
Alaska and California
NHS was a godsend. I was a commercial fisherman in Alaska going back and forth for years to see my parents in California. After my stepmother passed away my dad couldn’t be alone. I had no choice but to put my fishing boat into storage and move to Southern California.
Most people with aging parents have no expertise or training about how to provide for their care. It can get very complicated. NHS handled all the financial arrangements, however, and took care of everything that had to be done. They made life as pleasant as possible under the circumstances.
My father and I co-owned his residence and some other real property. I was concerned that if something happened to me, he would be vulnerable. But NHS arranged our assets in a way that no one could take them to reimburse my father’s medical expenses. My father was protected for as long as he lived, which I thought was excellent.
After we restructured the financial holdings, we started proceedings to apply for Medi-Cal, but it became unnecessary. Even though my father passed away, I was extremely pleased with Zoran Basich and NHS.
The Brunner Family:
Claude Brunner
Retired Railroad
Burbank, California
We have a porch out front, and my wife tripped over a old-fashioned wrought iron settee onto the cement floor and ruptured a vertebrae. She was in the hospital for quite a while. Then, her Medicare benefits were exhausted and the hospital didn’t have room for her.
So she went into the nursing home. I paid more than $4,000 a month for about six months for her care. I’m retired from the Southern Pacific Railroad and I had to use both my savings and my pension. That bank account went down so fast you wouldn’t believe it! I was very worried.
Then, my son found NHS. With their help, we qualified my wife for Medi-Cal, and protected the home I live in. My nursing home payments were reduced to $840 a month. My wife died after 18 months.
Doug Brunner
Marine Technician
Castaic Lake, California
We were extremely happy with the service NHS provided. They were referred by a friend who had gone through something very similar. From the first appointment, they handled everything very professionally.
I didn't know a lot about Medicare or Medi-Cal. We went to NHS because it’s important to get a lawyer who specializes in Medi-Cal and who can knowledgeably answer your questions. Medicare/Medi-Cal can be a disaster. You can make a lot of mistakes when you’re trying to figure out a 75-page application. There are so many legal questions in the application that the general public wouldn’t know how to answer.
Nursing home care is extremely expensive. My dad would have been broke in less than a year if it wasn’t for NHS. Other people in my dad’s neighborhood who didn’t receive help had to use their home to pay for nursing home care.
There’s a lot of uncertainty when someone goes into a nursing home. The nursing home administrator said to me, "Your mom may be here six months or eight years."
If you knew for sure it was just going to be six months, you could perhaps handle $5,000 a month. But you’ve got to be a wealthy person to pay that amount for a long time.
Dennis Conte
Commander, Los Angeles County Sheriff Department
Huntington Beach, California
My mother-in-law with Alzheimer’s broke her hip. Because of her inability to comprehend, she was moved directly from hospital rehabilitation to assisted living. My in-laws had resources – a house, she had some savings – but we knew we couldn’t spend everything for her care and leave my father-in-law with nothing. So, we applied for Medi-Cal.
The Medi-Cal review process took 11 months. My mother and father-in-law had moved their money from bank to bank to get the best interest rates. The Medi-Cal investigator, who believed we were trying to hide assets, wanted four to five years of bank records. Some were in the archives and some banks wouldn’t cooperate. It was just horrendous! The investigator thought we were going to give up.
Then Zoran Basich and the professionals at NHS stepped in to help us. They got my mother-in-law approved for Medi-Cal, which even reimbursed us for what we had paid the facility for the months we waited during the investigation.
My mother-in-law spent two years in the nursing home before she passed away. We estimate we saved $70,000 – the amount it would have cost us to keep her in that facility. Part of the money we saved we used to care for my father-in-law for two years and part of it to pay for our kids’ education.
When my father-in-law needed skilled nursing care, we had a much different experience. Because the records were in order, he was accepted for Medi-Cal in 30 days. He lived in the facility for almost two years before he died.
My father-in-law worked 70 years of his life, saved money and paid taxes and Social Security. We weren’t ready to use all his assets when I knew we had the capability to protect them. I have great regard for Zoran and what he did for us.
Al Guzman
Contractor
Azusa, California
At age 79 my dad, a retired government defense worker, had a stroke while in the second stage of Alzheimer’s. When he went into the nursing home, none of his five children were prepared. We had to figure out my dad’s finances and how to pay for his care, because sooner or later, we knew it would cost a fortune.
My dad owned rental property. We thought we would have to get one attorney for the real estate, and others for each different aspect of my dad’s financial affairs because there were so many different details. I thought I’d have to coordinate all the lawyers’ actions, or they would have to coordinate among themselves.
Then, we heard about NHS. I went straight to Zoran Basich. I was one of the fortunate ones. He restructured everything into secure assets.
Going to NHS is the greatest thing I’ve ever done to help my parents. You can trust NHS and believe what they tell you. A bill would come in for $50,000 and they would say, "Don’t worry about it. It’s taken care of.” I no longer woke up at 2 a.m. worried about how I was going to pay for everything. NHS handled every problem. The people at NHS are worth their weight in gold. For what we paid, it was money well spent.
My dad passed away after about half a year in the nursing home. My mom is still living in their home collecting my dad’s full Social Security and retirement benefits, thanks to Zoran.
When your parents get ill, you don’t have to spend all of their resources in a matter of three or four months to pay for their care. You don’t have to watch everything they worked for be gone before they pass away. It’s really not right. If it can be saved, it should be.
Bradford J. King
All State Insurance
Los Angeles, California
I was shocked when my previously healthy 78-year-old mother became severely ill and incapacitated after a stroke. She spent several days in the hospital and then needed skilled nursing care. I suffered another shock when I found out that the cost per month in a nursing home for my mother’s special needs was $18,000. Neither Medicare nor her health insurance would cover it. The family could expect to pay for the next year a total out-of-pocket expense of $216,000 at minimum!
My mother had a trust. We believed the trust would help us avoid the nursing home costs. But my mother’s trust attorney did not know what to do. He referred us to another attorney who was supposed to be an expert in federal programs that could help pay for my mother's care. The benefits this attorney promised were denied, however, and he never returned my phone calls, my certified letters nor the money I paid him.
I faced the possibility of wiping out my mother's financial resources and selling her house to pay for her care. As an expert in insurance, I was fully aware of long-term nursing home insurance. But to qualify for long-term care policy, you have to be healthy. Had I been able to get a policy, it would have been little help. The average policy covers only $3,000 per month. I would have still needed to pay $15,000 out of pocket.
I was then referred to NHS, but I was skeptical. After all, I had just paid a so-called specialist. However, NHS and Mr. Basich helped preserve my mother's hard-earned assets and obtained lifetime, long-term care benefits for my mother. The NHS staff was with me all the way, from going with me to visit my mother for her input on documents to having documents notarized and various documents filed in court.
Everything was done professionally and in a timely manner. I could not have been more pleased. Because of Mr. Basich's help, my mother's health care was the best money could buy and she was able to preserve her assets as well as her home. If you would like to contact Mr. King Please Click Here
Barbara Quintz
Glendale, California
My husband was getting forgetful but the doctor said it was nothing to worry about. Then one day, his car stalled and he fell into the street. Because he was disoriented and had been wandering the streets, hospital officials put him in a psychiatric ward.
My brother and I got him home and took care of him for a year. e had to do everything for him. When he fell while I was asleep, I was forced to put him in a facility. The facility cost $4,000 a month, and I had to borrow money to pay for it.
Then I was referred to Zoran Basich and NHS. I can’t say enough about them. Once you become their client, you’re part of one big family. Zoran took care of us. He took care of all the paperwork. He would listen and talk to me. He’s so honest and caring.
In less than two months, we got approved for Medi-Cal. Now, I don’t have to pay a cent for the nursing home. My husband has been in the facility for two years. I visit him every day. He’s my heart. He makes my life worth living. Thanks to Zoran, I have a home, so that if a miracle should occur and my husband comes home, there's a place for him.
