Using Medicaid to pay for long-term care is not in the best interests of most people and advisors should warn clients against it, according to Nationwide Financial survey.

Forty-two percent of advisors say they have clients who are considering impoverishing themselves to use the government program and avoid paying for long-term care themselves, according a Nationwide Financial survey.

These clients are considering giving their money to their children to enable them to qualify for Medicaid, which was designed to pay the health care needs, including long-term care, for the impoverished.

In a survey of 501 financial advisors with at least half their clients having $250,000 or more in investable assets, 42 percent said they have clients who are considering using Medicaid as a way to protect their children’s inheritance. Only 15 percent of the advisors’ clients understand the costs of long-term care well and 35 percent barely understand the costs at all, according to the surveyed advisors.

Clients also do not understand their options, with fewer than one third (31 percent) of advisors saying their clients understand such things as life insurance riders for long-term care.

Clients are not considering the drawbacks to using Medicaid for long-term care, says Nationwide. These drawbacks include not being able to stay where you want since nursing homes are not required to take new Medicaid patients. Medicaid often uses nursing home care as the only option for long-term care and won’t pay for home health care or adult day care. Medicaid patients do not get private rooms and have limited ability to change facilities.

“Many of our advisors tell us the most important aspect to their clients when planning for long-term care is maintaining control,” says John Carter, president of distribution and sales for Nationwide Financial. “They give up control when protecting an inheritance for their children outweighs comfort in their final days.”

Nationwide has launched a personalized health care assessment program to help advisors estimate their clients’ health care expenses in retirement. This can “provide a fact-based cost estimate based on their clients’ health risk and lifestyle and build a plan from there,” says Carter.