Long Term Care Insurance Blog

Do Medicare Medicaid Services Cover Long Term Care?

Ian — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:52:58 +0000

Does Medicare cover long term care? What about Medicaid? These are tough questions, with somewhat complicated answers. Instead of one (really) long post, we’re going to break this issue into a couple smaller posts. First, let’s take a look at Medicare. According to Wikipedia, Medicare is defined as:

A social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria.

Sounds simple enough, right? The average person, after reading this, may assume that after the age of 65, the government is going to take care of them by providing health insurance. Unfortunately it’s not that easy.

Medicare does not and was never intended to pay for long term care.

What?

Medicare simply replaces your health insurance so when you retire and go on Social Security you are covered in the event:

You go to a hospital
You visit your doctor
You need outpatient care

Most long term care that we require is custodial, meaning hands on or having some one at arms length to help with things like cooking, cleaning, managing medications, etc. Or, we require help with personal care, such as bathing, toileting, eating, etc. Medicare does not pay for this.

To complicate matters further, there are two types of Medicare: Medicare A and Medicare B. See this description of medicare medicaid services for an explanation of the two.

So what are we to do? What benefits will insurance for long term care provide that Medicare does not?

We’ll answer this question tomorrow. Subscribe to our long term care insurance blog to be the first to hear about it.

Happy Holidays From LTC Connects

Ian — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:17:23 +0000

Happy holidays from everyone here at LTC Connects!

If ever there is a time to thank each other for what we have, and to think positively about our long term care needs, it’s now. For the next couple days think about what you have, instead of what you don’t. When 2009 rolls around we will take a moment to help explain how insurance for long term care relates to medicare. We’ll look at what long term care insurance covers versus medicare medicaid services. Many as what medicare covers, what it doesn’t as well as how it differs from medicaid and long term care health insurance.

In the meantime, we highly recommend everyone read our free LTC guide, Dignity for Life. Five Things You Should Know Before Considering Long Term Care Insurance.

Long Term Care–A Women’s Issue

Curt — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:42:36 +0000

The Women’s Institute for Financial Education gives a good overview of why long term care is a crucial financial and emotional issue for women;

Women, especially, bear the brunt of these care costs. Because women live longer than men, they require lengthier care as they age, and because women often assume responsibility for their family’s health and welfare, the task of caring for elderly parents, an ill spouse, or disabled brothers and sisters usually falls to us. With long-term care insurance, you can get the assistance you need and your loved ones deserve.

Longevity and social expectations tend to shift the burden of care as well as the need for care to women. Because of this, insurance for long term care an important issue to consider in the financial planning and protection. An LTC insurance specialist can assist you in exploring whether LTC insurance is appropriate for you and your family.

At What Point Should You Consider Long Term Care Insurance?

Ian — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:54:54 +0000

It’s an important question, whether you are single, married with children, divorced, young or old. Considering that 39% of the people needing long term care are between the ages of 18 and 64, there is no wrong time to begin looking into insurance for long term care.

As explained in more detail HERE, we have have categorized the selection of long term care into two parts:

Coverage For Yourself
Coverage For Parents

“Coverage For Yourself” means you are researching long term care insurance for yourself, for yourself and spouse/partner, or yourself with children. Each of these scenarios requires different approaches to long term care, as your needs are going to be different if you’re alone versus having to care for a spouse and children.

Coverage for parents: It’s difficult to predict at what point in time your parents are going to need additional care. Do we really want to take the risk and wait until the last minute to figure this out? The option to get long term care insurance can lessen some of the burden of care that frequently falls to children.

Whether you are just now beginning to research a long term care insurance program or are in need of it soon, contacting a LTCI expert doesn’t cost anything and will at least provide some direction.

Long Term Care Over the Holidays

Ian — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:20:18 +0000

The issue of long term care is never an easy one to deal with, especially over the holidays. This the time to bring family together, to catch up with one another and share laughter, good times and of course, delicious food. But sometimes this can be difficult given the circumstances. Instead of traveling to be with family and friends, you have to stay put and care for an ailing mother, father, grandparent or maybe a brother or sister. In times like this appreciate what you do have, not what you wish you had.

If you can’t travel for the holidays, try to take a long walk in the morning and again after eating. Visit your neighbors who you haven’t seen in a while. Most of all, enjoy who you are with.

Are You Aware? Long Term Care Awareness Month

Ian — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:24:06 +0000

As noted by the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance, November is officially Long Term Care Awareness Month.

The awareness campaign which we commenced in 2001 continues to grow and involve more leading national organizations and governmental agencies,” explains Jesse Slome, the Association’s executive director. “Last year, the U.S. Congress issued a Resolution (H.R. 133) in support of Long-Term Care Awareness Week, and several Governors declared the week in their states.

Creating awareness and educating the public about insurance for long term care is an important step that will assist those who need long term care now, or in the future, with the tools to make educated decisions about their health.

To learn more about long term care, read our short guide, “Dignity For Life: 5 Things You Should Know Before Considering Long Term Care Insurance“.

2009 LTC Premium Deductibility Limits

Curt — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:36:22 +0000

The IRS allows qualified Long Term Care Insurance premiums to be deducted with some limits. Those limits for 2009 have been established and this article from the Davidow Newsletter has a good explanation of what those limitations are as well as what qualifies as a tax deductible policy.

A qualified Long Term Care Insurance specialist can help you determine the best policy for you.

LTC Insurance Newsletters available

Curt — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:09:26 +0000

LTC Connects is pleased to provide you with QuickFACTS® newsletters in partnership with MetLife’s Mature Market Institute, a well-established and pioneering think tank on issues surrounding aging and retirement.

QuickFACTS® is a monthly newsletter providing stats, trends and information on issues related to aging, including retirement planning and financing, workforce demographics, international aging, caregiving, long term health care, health and retiree benefits from a variety of sources. We have newsletters from January 2007 to present and will continue to update as issues are released.

We hope you will find the information helpful.

Resources for Caregivers

Curt — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:12:43 +0000

In partnership with the MetLife Mature Market Institute, a well-established and pioneering think tank on issues surrounding aging and retirement, we have compiled some helpful information in our Caregivers Resources Center, for people assisting someone who needs long term care.

Hiring and Independent Caregiver (opens PDF)

Medicare and Medicaid Programs - The Basics (opens PDF)

Medications and the Older Adult (PDF, 605 kb)

Becoming An Effective Advocate for Care (opens PDF)

Alzheimer’s Disease: Caregiving Challenges (opens PDF)

Long Distance Caregiving (opens PDF)

Legal Matters (opens PDF)

Preventing Elder Abuse (opens PDF)

Final Arrangements (opens PDF)

Hospice (opens PDF)

Community Services (opens PDF)

Adult Day Centers (opens PDF)

Falls and Fall Prevention (opens PDF)

Choosing an Assisted Living Facility (opens PDF)

Family Caregiving (opens PDF)

Making the Nursing Home Choice (opens PDF)

Understanding Home Care Agency Options (opens PDF)

We hope this information is helpful for those who are caring for loved ones.

Long Distance Caregiving

Curt — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 19:20:03 +0000

We live in a transient society these days which means families are often spread apart in different towns and often different states. This distance raises concerns and challenges for the 34 million Americans that currently provide care to older loved ones (15% of those live a minimum of 1 hour away from that loved one). Setting up and managing care for a loved one from a distance can be tricky and if you are facing this situation, please take a look at the Long Distance Caregiving guide we have available for download in our Resource Center.

The guide details the specifics of setting up and managing care from a distance including

Assessing the situation

With what does the loved one need assistance? Do they need help with Activities of Daily Living (also known as “ADLs” and include bathing, transporting, feeding) or “supportive care” (laundry, housekeeping grocery shopping etc).

Locating and implementing community resources

Depending on the needs determined in the assessment you will need to locate resources locally to support those needs. If they have a long term care insurance policy and qualify for receiving care, contact their insurance agent for guidance. If they do not have a policy or only need supportive care, some resources include local hospitals, social workers, senior centers. A federally funded program to assist in locating help for elders is Eldercare Locator.

Organizing and tracking important documents

Keep track of copies of important docuements and information such as Social Security and Medicare cards, birth certificates, physician names and numbers.

Ongoing Care Monitoring

When you have care in place you will need to routinely and randomly monitor the quality by visiting (both announced and unannounced) and through phone calls and email.

Maintaining control of your own life while caring for an older loved one

Often personal lives are put on the backburner when caring for a loved one. The guide provides tips on how to avoid neglecting those areas.

The task of caring for a loved one can have a huge emotional and financial impact. But preparation and ongoing management of the situation can lessen these impacts.