Nursing home care is an unavoidable issue for many senior citizens.
Bloomberg Businessweek estimates that the percentage of Americans age 65 right now who are likely to spend some time in a nursing home is 40 percent. The national average cost of nursing home care has risen to $55,000 annually, though a metropolitan area like New York City could be double that. For those with financial or other concerns regarding the sometimes overwhelming expense of nursing home living, there are legitimate options that might help transfer the cost of such care.
Medicare/Medicaid
Medicare pays on a limited basis for nursing home stays. At some point, once a patient's resources are exhausted or if there were never any resources to start with, Medicaid will take over making payments as long as is necessary. To be accepted in the Medicaid program requires the resident to qualify under a three-pronged test. According to SeniorMag.com, the controlling factors are medical diagnosis, income and assets. The patient must be designated by a medical professional as being in need of professional care. She must also have an income less than $1,650 a month, and other assets must total less than $2,000 for an individual or $3,000 for a married couple. Once these standards are established, Medicaid will pay for your nursing home stay.
Insurance
Another option people can take advantage of is to purchase long-term care insurance. Like car or house insurance, purchase of this protection might allow you to not worry about being forced to sell assets at some point in the future to pay for nursing home care. Like any other insurance, you pay a monthly premium in return for a promise by the insurance company to pay for your care when you need it. A twist on the idea of traditional life insurance is called accelerated death benefit, which allows you to collect in the event you are diagnosed with a terminal disease or require extended care. The downside is that there may be nothing left for your designated survivors.
Life Care Community
The concept of a life care community offers you a chance to move into a community with differing levels of care available as you age. In the beginning, you might choose to live in a fully independent housing unit and accept an increasing amount of care as you age. The rent as it is referred to is an investment in the community and does not increase as you require greater care. One way to look at this is that most people pay some sort of rent or mortgage for a large part of their life. With a life care community, you pay rent but receive nursing home care on top as an added benefit.
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