Components of Long Term Care Plans
Long term care plans are just like sports. Nobody plays and prays to lose a game and yet he does not discount the probability of losing. Planning your long term care (LTC) is very similar to this as you don’t secure a plan and aspire to acquire a serious health condition. You just plan to avoid uttering the words, “I didn’t see it coming,” in the future.
Neglect of one’s responsibilities always leads to painful consequences so by planning the future you are simply anticipating what may befall you and your family, and this is not being pessimistic. This is being responsible.
How to start your LTC plan would depend on what you expect to receive in the future. If your family has a history in any debilitating disease you may want to scout nursing homes in your area or hospice care as you’re likely to need skilled care someday.
Knowing the type of care that you will need is one of the fundamentals of a long term care plan because the rates of skilled care providers are higher than those of custodial care providers. Skilled care refers to the service provided by licensed medical practitioners such as nurses and doctors.
Administration of medical tests such as blood and urine, providing therapy sessions, changing wound dressing, and medication management all fall under skilled care. Individuals with chronic illnesses, permanent disabilities and serious spinal injuries which were sustained from accidents are usually provided skilled care upon the order of their physicians.
Custodial care, on the other hand, is the provision of services associated with the activities of daily living (ADL) such as eating, bathing, toilet use, dressing, continence, and transferring among others. Individuals that provide this type of care need not be licensed medical practitioners but they should be able to empathize with the needs of those who are incapable of performing the simplest ADLs due to disability, injury or infirmity resulting from old age.
Assessment of Your Long Term Care Plans
As mentioned earlier in this article, you have to be able to identify the kind of care that you will need in the future before you can come up with a specific LTC plan.
According to health care professionals, 90% of Americans over the age of 55 aspire to stay longer in their homes. If you happen to be one of them, it would be ideal to have a long term care insurance (LTCI) policy which provides coverage in multiple settings.
Medicare will only foot your LTC bills in a skilled care setting while Medicaid can only offer limited in-home or community-based services as it is still in the process of recuperating from its big expenditures on LTC in the previous years.
If you don’t want others directing your life someday, start planning your future today. Sit down and discuss your long term care plans with your family before consulting a licensed LTCI representative who has been in the industry longer than others as he sure can help you clinch long term care quotes and a plan that is most suitable for your needs and budget.
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