Written by: patrick on July 1, 2010 @ 3:02 am
It comes as a shock to most people when, in the midst of a crisis, when they are finally thrown into a discussion about elder care, they find that assisted living is not, for the most part, covered by medical insurance. Further, even in states where they might receive help from Medicaid, they have to be impoverished before they will qualify. This is the ultimate “adding insult in injury”.
Government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration will cover the cost of long-term care under certain conditions. Medicare will cover rehabilitation from a hospital stay or limited care at home if there is a skilled (medical) need. The Veterans Administration will cover the cost of nursing home care indefinitely if the veteran is at least 70% service-connected disabled. The VA will also cover other forms of home-based or community-based care if there is a medical need and the veteran served during a time of war.Medicaid will cover both medical and non-medical related long-term care but in order to qualify for Medicaid a person has to have less than $2,000 in assets and income that is insufficient to pay the cost of care. In other words a person must be impoverished. Otherwise Medicaid will not pay, and in some states, like California, this aid will only come in the form of custodial care at a skilled nursing facility and only if certain conditions are met.
It is my experience that average people are simply not very concerned about preparing for long-term care. Perhaps they have seen it in their family or among friends and seen the effect that it has. Because of the unsavory aspect of receiving long-term care, perhaps the people prefer to ignore it rather than embrace the need for it. Perhaps they mistakenly think the government will take care of them. Or they are assured that family and friends will provide the care when needed, but don’t know how difficult is for loved ones to provide that care when the time actually comes.
Whatever the case, without proper planning, the need for long-term care can result in the single greatest crisis in an elderly person’s life.The single most shocking statistic I have seen blatantly illustrated in my years in this industry is that 40% of adult children now end up paying for a portion of their parent’s assisted living care! Unbelievably, a huge percentage of these people, people who should know better, people who are forced to help pay for their parents care, will not plan for their own possible need for assisted living and thereby consigning their own children to the same fate! Remember, the very best case scenario right now is one out of every two people alive right now will need assisted living and that ratio is increasing.
This lack of planning will always have an adverse effect on all families. It usually results in great sacrifice or financial cost on the part of the spouse or children. I have seen hundreds of “well-spouses” providing in home care and stress often will disable or kill. I have heard so often, “mom should care for dad at home.” At the expense of her health or very life? Care giving is hard. It takes such a toll on seniors that years that would have been enjoyed are wasted or lost. In other cases the well spouse realizes they are not physically capable so then are forced to live in poverty so their loved one can receive care. I encourage adult children who press well parents to care for ill parents to experience the roll of care-giver themselves for a month or so, before they pass judgment. Care giving is a massive undertaking and should not be thrust upon someone lightly or without the proper resources. Also, it is important to remember that every care giving plan must be re-evaluated periodically, to insure that all needs, caregiver and recipient, are being met.
Unfortunately, with the economy in dire straits, we can expect that when we need assisted living, there will be little or no government assistance. We must assume personal responsibility, and that means, for most of us, some sort of long term care insurance. We all pay for auto insurance, and yet only one in twelve drivers will ever file a claim. As we know at least one out of two people alive today will require assisted living. Those are disturbing odds. We will cover Long Term Care Insurance in much greater detail later. Until that time, let’s start thinking about what we can do to protect ourselves. As always, Kindest Regards.
Tags: Assisted Living, Assisted Living Costs, assisted living placement, care giving, elder care, Long Term Care Insurance, Medicaid, senior care, Senior Citizens
Catogories: Senior Citizen Needs, Uncategorized, assisted living education
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