The Truth about Medicare Long Term Care

People need to have long term care health insurance to ensure that they would have enough money to cover for their long term care costs in the future. Medicare Long Term Care is a social insurance program which is being administered under the United States Government. This program provides both acute and long term health care insurance coverage to people who have reached the age of 65. Medicare Long Term Care also provides long term care coverage to people under 65 who meet specified criteria. It is expected that as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, the enrollment for Medicare Long Term Care Program would reach 77 million by 2031. Medicare has been covering people since it was enacted into law in 1965 and has helped millions of US residents since then. Medicare is indeed helpful however, it has its limitations.

One misconception U.S. residents have is that once enrolled in the Medicare Long Term Care Program, all their long term care needs are already included in the coverage. This is not entirely correct. The long term care coverage that Medicare provides does not include long term care services that are classified as custodial. Services such as assisting the elderly in bathing, eating, and transferring to and from bed are considered as custodial care and are not included in the long term care services that Medicare would pay for. For these custodial care services, an elderly individual may rely on other family members or from other private long term care providers available in his/her state. Private long term care providers such as Metlife Long Term Care and John Hancock Long Term Care are some of these providers.

Medicare Long Term Care only pays for the long term medical care of the enrolled elderly which includes skilled long term care nurses. However, there certain conditions that must be met first for the elderly to be given the long term care benefits from Medicare. Medicare Long Term Care will pay for the full cost for the stay of a long term care elderly for the first 20 days at a skilled nursing care facility and would co-pay for the extended stay for a maximum of 80 days. Medicare would only pay for any difference that would exceed $114.00 per day for the rest of the 80 days in which the elderly is staying at a long term care facility. It should be noted however, that Medicare would only pay for the long term care of an elderly in a nursing home if it is medically related and is prescribed by a doctor.

All in all, Medicare Long Term Care is helping millions of elderly Americans with their medical bills. However, it is not enough to rely on Medicare since the long term care management of the elderly has proven to be expensive. Other sources for funding the long term care needs of the elderly may be obtained from the government through Medicaid Long Term Care which aids the elderly belonging to low income families. Investing a portion of the wages of family members in private long term care insurance companies is always a wise decision to ensure that the long term care needs of an elderly is financially taken care of.