Taft gives an informative response to the question:
Medicare does not provide coverage for what commonly is considered long-term health care, or “custodial care,” in a nursing home. Medicare coverage for a stay in a nursing home is limited to situations where you are receiving skilled nursing care, usually to complete rehabilitation after a stay in a hospital.
If you have spent at least three days in a hospital, Medicare then will pay for 20 days in a skilled nursing facility. If you have to remain there longer, Medicare will pay up to $124 a day for day 21 through day 100. If it is necessary to remain longer than that, you have to pay 100 percent of the cost.
If you have spent at least three days in a hospital, Medicare then will pay for 20 days in a skilled nursing facility. If you have to remain there longer, Medicare will pay up to $124 a day for day 21 through day 100. If it is necessary to remain longer than that, you have to pay 100 percent of the cost.
Medicare also will pay 100 percent of the cost of home health care that is ordered by your doctor and is what they describe as “reasonable and necessary” part-time or intermittent skilled nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and the services of a health aide if needed to do certain tasks such as giving you a bath.
Should you require the use of a wheel chair, a hospital bed, a walker, oxygen or other materials categorized as “durable medical equipment,” Medicare will pay 80 percent of the cost. Your supplemental policy would pick up the remaining tab because such policies ordinarily pay the difference between whatever Medicare allows and the amount Medicare pays (usually 80 percent).
Taft goes on to recommend long-term care insurance depending on “your personal and family health history and your financial situation.”
LTC insurance is going to become more and more necessary, as people survive things which might have killed them in past generations, but then need help for the day-to-day tasks of life to keep going. Having visited many LTC homes, I can only suggest that my experiences lead me to believe that nobody should have to stay in the worst of these places. They can be awful, and others (usually more expensive) and actually quite comfortable and pleasant.
Jerry
Posted by: Jerry | June 19, 2008 8:51 PM | Permalink to Comment