Insurer

Long Term Care Insurance

What is long term care?
Long term care is the kind of care that you would need to help you perform daily activities if you had an ongoing illness or disability. It also includes the kind of care you would need if you had a severe cognitive illness like Alzheimer’s disease or severe dementia. It is help with all the day to day things that could become difficult to do without assistance, such as eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, etc. This type of care isn’t provided in a hospital they only provide acute care. It is chronic care that you might need for the rest of your life.

Is long term care expensive?
Yes, long term care can be very costly. It can easily deplete a persons savings, which is the major reason why people decide on long term care insurance you might decide to buy long term care insurance.

Won’t my current health plan cover my long term care, if needed?
No, in most cases it does not. Health plans may cover some of the skilled medical services you may need when you cannot care for yourself after an illness or injury, but usually for a limited period and only as long as you are showing improvement. Health plans typically don’t cover ongoing chronic care.

But won’t Medicare cover long term care?
No, in most cases it will not. Medicare, which is primarily for those 65 and over, generally pays limited amounts for skilled care following a hospital stay. It does not cover custodial care which assists people with the activities of daily living over a long period of time - usually 90 days or more. In fact, the majority of people requiring long term care need custodial care. Medicare will cover the first 100 days of care in a nursing home if: A) you are receiving skilled care, and B) you have a qualifying hospital stay of at least 3 days and enter the nursing home within 30 days of that hospital discharge. There are also some deductibles and co-pays.