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For many people, they start out paying for Assisted Living or a nursing home themselves, use up all their money, and then apply for Medicaid, which is available for people with assets less than $2000.
If you are married, your house will be exempt until the second spouse dies, but then Medicaid will want to be repaid from the equity in the house.
If you have significant assets, but not enough to pay $60,000 to $100,000 a year for NH care year after year, you should consult an elder law attorney about how to preserve some of your assets without losing Medicaid eligibility. It is complicated, and if you don't do it right, you can end up responsible for funding your own care when you don't have any money left.
It is not usual for Medicaid to pay for Assisted Living, but many if not most people in nursing homes are on Medicaid.
Myth #1: Medicare will pay for long term care - The sad truth about Medicare is it will only cover your long term care on a limited basis. If you are injured or sick due to a fall or stroke but are expected to get better, Medicare will cover the costs of you staying a nursing facility. However, this would be for a limited time only until your conditions improve or until it can cover costs. But for those who would be needing daily custodial care and living in a nursing facility due to chronic illness or condition, Medicare would not be able to cover for this.
Myth #2: Medicare will pay for hospice care - Does Medicare cover long term care insurance especially when it comes to hospice care? This is true. Hospice care is making the patient comfortable as possible as they enter the final stages of their terminal condition. You would become eligible for coverage if you are no longer receiving treatment for your terminal condition and is expected to survive no longer than six months. For Medicare to cover this, the doctor would have to confirm that the patient is terminally ill and would require hospice care.
Myth #3: Medicare will cover people from all ages - For people thinking that Medicare will cover any person at any age for long term care, they have it wrong. To become eligible for Medicare you would need to be 65 years old and above. However if you are not yet 65 years old, you would need exhibit to have certain conditions that would meet their requirements. People can be covered for Medicare if they have permanent kidney failure that would require them to undergo dialysis treatment or kidney transplant. So if you don’t meet these requirements, you would have to find alternatives sources.
So in the end, does Medicare cover long term care insurance? The answer is both a no and a yes. It’s a no because it would not provide coverage if you need daily custodial care or a stay in a nursing home if you have no present illness or condition. However, long term care will only pay for LTC costs if you are 65 years old and above and need to recover from a broken bone injury. You would also get coverage if you have kidney failure and would need to undergo dialysis or kidney transplant.