What is
Long-Term Care?
Long-term care is the assistance people need
when they can no longer take care of
themselves. This need usually results from a
disabling physical, medical or mental
(Alzheimer’s disease) condition.
Is Long-Term care expensive?
Almost 50% of people age 65 or older will
spend some time in a nursing home. The
annual cost for long-term care can easily
reach $50,000 or more.
Nursing home
costs can range between $90 and
$200 or more a day.
Residential
care facilities, that provide
assisted living, can cost $45 to
$70 a day.
A homemaker
or live in companion can cost
$155 or more a day.
At home
visits by a registered nurse can
cost $100 or more a day. A visit
at home by a social worker can
cost more than $110 a day.
Will Medicare
pay for long-term care?
The longest stay in a nursing home, that
Medicare will pay for completely, is 20
days. To qualify, three full days must first
be spent in an acute care hospital before
admission to the nursing home.
If three
days are not first spent in an acute care
hospital (within 30 days of admission to a
nursing home) nothing is paid. After the
first 20 days Medicare will pay just a part
of the cost for the next 80 days. After that
- generally nothing.
What is
Long-Term care insurance?
Long-term care insurance is designed to
reimburse people for some of the costs they
incur when they need help with basic
activities like eating, bathing or getting
in and out of bed. This insurance is issued
by the legal reserve life insurance industry
as a policy. The policy may pay for care in
institutions like nursing homes, assisted
living facilities; at home for personal
care, home health care, homemakers services,
hospice care, etc.
What are the
types of Long-Term care insurance?
There are basically two different types of
coverage. The most common type of policy is
“premium driven”. The less common type of
coverage is “asset based”.
The “premium driven” policy has a monthly or
annual premium. The premium must be paid for
coverage to be in force. The cost will vary
according to the monthly or daily benefit,
waiting period, deductible, inflation
option, the number of years the benefit is
to be paid, etc. Age and health also greatly
affect the premium. The largest resistance
to this type of coverage is the lack of
enthusiasm to pay premiums for a policy that
may never be used.
