Funding Your Long Term Care
There are two main ways that you can have the cost off your own long term or in home care covered. The first is to self pay. With this method you are covering the entire cost of your care out of pocket. Across the country, the average cost of care varies from state to state. Densely populated areas like California and New York have higher per year averages than a state like Kentucky does. If you are able to pay for your care out of pocket, that is great, just know that if you live in a metro area, you are going to pay more than if you received care in a more rural part of the nation. This is not always your best option.
The second way to cover the cost of care is to have an insurance policy in place. A comprehensive long term care insurance policy will cover all of your long term care bills for you. In exchange, while you are younger and healthier, you pay your premium either every month or every year. If you go down the yearly route, your premiums generally average out to be a bit lower than if you just pay each month. The insurance company rewards you in this manner for giving them more money at a single time. The catch with long term care an in home care insurance is that you must be in good health to get approved. This is how insurance companies protect themselves; if they allowed the infirm and ill in on their policies, they would see large losses. Instead, they look for young and healthy people to sell their policies to.
Medicaid will, in many cases, cover all of your care for you, should you be deemed financially eligible. The downfall with Medicaid, however, is that you have little to no choice over your long term care facility. Medicaid will choose a facility for you. Best case scenario: they give you a list of assisted living facilities and you get to choose one off of the list. Medicaid will pay for your care, but only on their terms. This is not an agreeable outcome for many folk.
Many people think that Medicare will cover the entirety of their care for them. This is a myth. While Medicare will cover some long term or in home care, it is strictly limited as to what prices it will cover and for how long. This leads to a third option€"having some paid for by insurance and some paid out of pocket.
There are quite a few private insurances that will partially cover your care as well. You can choose at the time of signing the policy what kind of provisions you want to include. If you want to pay a smaller premium each month, you can get a more limited policy. This will still save you money over the long run by reducing drastically the amount of care that you are responsible for.
The second way to cover the cost of care is to have an insurance policy in place. A comprehensive long term care insurance policy will cover all of your long term care bills for you. In exchange, while you are younger and healthier, you pay your premium either every month or every year. If you go down the yearly route, your premiums generally average out to be a bit lower than if you just pay each month. The insurance company rewards you in this manner for giving them more money at a single time. The catch with long term care an in home care insurance is that you must be in good health to get approved. This is how insurance companies protect themselves; if they allowed the infirm and ill in on their policies, they would see large losses. Instead, they look for young and healthy people to sell their policies to.
Medicaid will, in many cases, cover all of your care for you, should you be deemed financially eligible. The downfall with Medicaid, however, is that you have little to no choice over your long term care facility. Medicaid will choose a facility for you. Best case scenario: they give you a list of assisted living facilities and you get to choose one off of the list. Medicaid will pay for your care, but only on their terms. This is not an agreeable outcome for many folk.
Many people think that Medicare will cover the entirety of their care for them. This is a myth. While Medicare will cover some long term or in home care, it is strictly limited as to what prices it will cover and for how long. This leads to a third option€"having some paid for by insurance and some paid out of pocket.
There are quite a few private insurances that will partially cover your care as well. You can choose at the time of signing the policy what kind of provisions you want to include. If you want to pay a smaller premium each month, you can get a more limited policy. This will still save you money over the long run by reducing drastically the amount of care that you are responsible for.