Who Will Qualify for Medicare Long Term Care Coverage?
Will Medicare pay for your long term care? Unless you’re 65 years old or older or in the final stage of a renal disease, Medicare won’t be there for you because it does not provide long term care (LTC) coverage.
Medicare is not totally unmindful of the growing population in need of LTC so it offers limited nursing home coverage to individuals that require medically necessary care. For example, you are 45 years old and disabled or probably with acute kidney disease, then Medicare will take you in.
But if your main requirement is custodial care or assistance with your activities of daily living (ADL) like eating, bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, and continence, you should look elsewhere because this is not Medicare’s turf.
To avoid mistakenly turning to Medicare for assistance when your need for LTC arises, plan your moves today. You can start by paying your kind doctor a visit. Be honest about your purpose so that he’ll do everything that he can to help you identify your future health care needs. For instance, after subjecting you to an overall physical examination he will analyze and correlate the results with your family’s health history.
If the medical analysis suggests you are genetically predisposed to a certain type of illness or health disorder, you can ask your doctor what he could recommend in line with your LTC plan.
Many doctors say people should not be alarmed if they find out that certain health disorders run in their blood. They say a person’s genes only makes up 5% of his overall health because it’s still his lifestyle and diet that will determine what may befall him in the future.
These days it is possible to prevent the progression of serious health conditions. Just seek advice from your trusted physician.
When Will Medicare Pay for Your Long Term Care?
Some people in the government have yet to work out a Medicare program that will cover people’s LTC needs extensively, but as of this writing no such thing exists yet.
Medicare is for senior folks who have reached the retirement age as Medicaid is to the poor. If you study both federal health insurance programs you will notice that none of them prioritizes the health care needs of middle-class Americans let alone their LTC. The reason behind this is that the middle class is earning a decent income and thus capable of planning their health care needs. Medicare will only step in under certain conditions like an individual has developed a very serious health issue that requires 24-hour care and monitoring in a nursing home.
However, even if Medicare ends up providing you with LTC coverage this will not be 100% free. You’ll be required to co-pay for some of the treatments or services that you might acquire in the nursing facility.
There really is no other way to receive LTC than through a tax-qualified LTCI policy. Aside from getting instant access into your choice of LTC setting, you can also enjoy huge tax breaks from your annual premium.
Will Medicare pay for your long term care? Absolutely not but if you take up the reins of your life and plan your future today, you don’t have to worry about your LTC needs.
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