For any number of reasons - physical illness,
an injury, or aging - some people find themselves needing help with
eating, bathing, dressing, toileting or continence, and/or
transferring out of a chair or bed. These six acts are called
Activities of Daily Living-sometimes referred to as ADLs. In
general, if you can't do two or more of these activities, or if you
have a severe cognitive impairment, you are said to need
long-term care.
Many people think that long-term care is
provided exclusively in a nursing home. It can be, but it also is
provided in an adult day care center, an assisted living facility,
or at home.
Assistance with ADLs, called custodial care,
may be provided in the same place as skilled care, which leads to
the confusion regarding coverage. Skilled care means medical,
nursing or rehabilitative services, including help taking medicine,
undergoing testing (e.g. blood pressure), or other similar
services. This distinction is important because Medicare and most
private health insurance policies pay only for skilled care, not
custodial care.
If you're 65 or over, don't count on Medicare
or private health insurance. Medicare doesn't pay for custodial
care, and private health insurance rarely pays for long-term care.
For those with very limited financial resources, you might qualify
for Medicaid, a government program that pays the medical and
long-term care expenses of people with limited income. If you
expect to be in that situation, you probably shouldn't buy
long-term care insurance, because your state's Medicaid program
will pay your long-term care expenses.
If you are one of the lucky few with unlimited
resources, than you don't need to worry about how you will pay for
your long-term care services.
However, if you fall between these two
categories, owning long-term care insurance, like all other
insurance coverage offers financial benefits.
It's never too early to consider long-term
care insurance because:
- The younger you are when you buy the less it
costs
- It's available only when you're healthy
So, unless you have so little money that you
will qualify for Medicaid, or so much money that you can pay the
bills out of your own pocket, consider buying long-term care
insurance.
