Frequently Asked Questions
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The average cost of a private room in a nursing home exceeds $100,000 per year. Long-term care insurance can protect your savings and give you choices about where and how you receive care.
Who pays for Long Term Care?
You will probably have to pay for it out of your own savings. If you're legally impoverished, government programs like Medicaid may cover your nursing home care. Medicare and virtually all health insurance programs will only cover Long Term Care for a short time (less than 100 days) and then, only in part. For everything else, the bill will come to you.
What will Medicare pay for?
After a hospitalization of at least three days and three nights, Medicare will cover a portion of the cost of care in skilled nursing facility for up to 100 days. If the care you are receiving is considered custodial (and 85% of nursing home care is) rather than skilled medical care, then your stay is not covered. No matter what, after 100 days, Medicare stops paying.
What will Medicaid pay for?
A large number of elderly Americans rely on Medicaid for long term care. For a person with little or no assets Medicaid may be the best solution to long term care needs. The rules vary from state, but in general the person receiving such services can have no more than $2,000 in personal assets (certain assets such as a home, its contents, and one car are exempt) and can keep only about $30 per month in income for personal needs. Everything else goes to the state to pay for the care provided, and that includes any pension and/or Social Security income. The rules for a spouse also vary from state to state but in general the spouse of someone on Medicaid can remain in the family home and keep around $82,000 in other assets and a monthly income of about $2,000.
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 makes the Partnership for Long Term Care available to all states. Partnership provides "lifetime asset protection" from the Medicaid spend-down requirement. If you have a Long term Care policy that qualifies, you may be able to increase the amount of personal assets that you can keep and still be able to get Medicaid. The ideal plan is to buy a Partnership qualified policy that pays an amount of long term care benefits allowing you to keep all your assets.
If you have a pension or other income that you want to protect than you may want to consider buying a Long Term Policy that has an unlimited benefit. This will provide maximum protection of your income and assets. In addition a Long Term Care policy can give you options that are not available to Medicaid patients.
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 makes the Partnership for Long Term Care available to all states. Partnership provides "lifetime asset protection" from the Medicaid spend-down requirement. If you have a Long term Care policy that qualifies, you may be able to increase the amount of personal assets that you can keep and still be able to get Medicaid. The ideal plan is to buy a Partnership qualified policy that pays an amount of long term care benefits allowing you to keep all your assets.
If you have a pension or other income that you want to protect than you may want to consider buying a Long Term Policy that has an unlimited benefit. This will provide maximum protection of your income and assets. In addition a Long Term Care policy can give you options that are not available to Medicaid patients.
When will the Veterans Administration pay for Long Term Care?
The Veterans Administration will cover the cost of nursing home care indefinitely if the veteran is at least 70% service-connected disabled. The VA will also cover other forms of home-based or community-based care if there is a medical need.