Medicare Supplement – Assisted Living Insurance and Nursing Homes

Medicare, which insures seniors over the age of 65, doesn’t cover long term care at all, thus you could very well t depend on this coverage in the event you should need it in the future. Even with a few savings, you will still have to buy an assisted living insurance plan. The average price of a skilled nursing home, on the other hand, is around $200 per day. This is where your costs could run up. Some places have a daily rate which is the cost of care divided by the number of days in a month. You may end up spending thousands of dollars a year on this care!

In addition, there are a few other options for covering your senior living expenses besides Medicare. Medicaid is generally a great option for covering medical expenses. However, it tends to only cover a few basic expenses, such as doctor visits and nursing home care. So if you want both nursing home care and doctor visits covered by Medicare, you are going to have to go with a different source, Medicaid Advantage Plans or GAP arrangements. These types of plans are basically insurance policies designed specifically for the disabled and elderly.

As mentioned above, Medicare doesn’t cover long term care. For those who are more in need of nursing care insurance coverage, Medicare Supplement Insurance may be the better choice. These policies pay a percentage towards both nursing and doctor’s bills, as well as any additional expenses you may have, like prescription coverage and comp plans.

When shopping for your assisted living insurance, it’s important to keep in mind the difference between short term and long term care coverage. Short term coverage will provide you with temporary protection but won’t allow you to avail yourself of the most comprehensive benefits available under Medicare. Long term coverage, on the other hand, will provide you with long term coverage that may not be available through Medicare. So it’s very important to ask your insurance agent and company what benefits they offer, and how those benefits will affect your long term financial security.

Another factor to consider when shopping for assisted living insurance is to look for inflation protection. What is inflation protection? This is a yearly benefit that is paid directly from the insurance company to the monthly premium cost. The cost of this type of coverage is based on an assumption of future inflation. So this means that if you have your initial premium for ten years and then begin to receive any additional payments due to inflation, your insurance company will pay the same amount of your monthly premium, but at a lower amount.

Another type of coverage to ask about when shopping for an assisted living insurance policy is long-term care insurance. This coverage typically covers long-term hospital stays and the cost of home health aide services, as well as assistance for other, non-medical services. While this type of coverage is generally cheaper than a Medicare supplement policy, it does not have all the benefits offered by Medicare. Long-term care insurance also does not have an opt-out provision. If you become unable to care for yourself, a family member, or a dependent in the event of your disability, you must obtain this type of insurance policy to cover long-term care costs.

The last factor to consider is coverage for nursing homes. Some assisted living insurance policies do cover nursing homes, but not all do. The Medicare supplement policy for nursing homes also has an opt-out provision that allows the insured to stop paying if he or she chooses to do so. For this reason, it is critical to ask your agent or company what types of services the policy covers, if it does at all. Otherwise, you might find that the only nursing home facilities that are covered by your policy are those run by the same company that does your Medicare supplement policy.

In short, it is crucial to understand what your coverage offers, and how it will work if you need to use it. Assisted living facilities and nursing homes are often the last resort for long-term care services. As such, they tend to have more expensive rates. However, the services offered, including skilled nursing care and services such as adult day care, can help improve your quality of life even if they are more expensive. That being said, it pays to understand what your options are, both with regards to long-term care insurance and with regard to Medicare supplement long-term care insurance.