PRAIRIE VOICES: In the long term
Q. Why do people need long-term care insurance?
A. Consider a couple in their home. They’re in their 70s or 80s. The husband falls and breaks a hip. Who will help him? Well, there are lots of options for long-term care these days. The spouse can and often does provide care in the home. Then there are the options involving professional care, such as home health care, assisted living and nursing home care. Long-term care insurance helps pay for professional care because that kind of care is very expensive.
Q. People often think Medicare will cover long-term care.
A. And that’s a mistake because the bottom line is that Medicare’s coverage of long-term care costs is very limited. In certain special circumstances, Medicare does pay in full for, say, nursing home care. But even in those circumstances, it’s only for the first 20 days. Starting on the 21st day, the nursing home resident must pay a co-pay of $133.50 a day. Medicare supplement policies will pick up that co-pay from the 21st to the 100th day. But after 100 days, that’s it. Neither Medicare nor the supplement will pay.
The Star-Ledger - NJ.com (blog)In one important sense, Ignagni is exactly right: The cost of delivering health care has historically grown at a rate much faster than either wages or Sebelius Dials Back Toughest Rhetoric on Health Care InsurersDivided (on health care) they standTime for Grown-up Talk - -all 3,136 news articles »
CBS NewsAccording the Congressional Budget Office, the average price for individual insurance will go up by an additional 10 to 13 percent in 2016 if Congress Will Democrats Fare Worse With or Without Passing Obamacare?Senate OKs unemployment, COBRA extensionsIrreconcilable Differences on Federal Level Grace-Marie Turner Richmond Times - -all 1,864 news articles »
Washington PostA national unemployment rate will average 9.8 percent this year, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed last month by Bloomberg, New Jersey Continues To Lose Jobsall 1,576 news articles »