“Does Medicare cover long-term care?,” Medicare Rights Center (MRC)

Quote:

“Medicaid is a state and federal program that provides health coverage if you have a limited income. Medicaid is the country’s largest payer of LTC services and will pay for nursing home care. Medicaid benefits also coordinate with Medicare.”

 

 

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):

That’s how the MRC answers this question: “Will Medicare cover the long-term care services that we may need? If not, where can we find help accessing and paying for long-term care?” Some naïve people finally got around to asking about long-term care and the best answer the MRC can give is Medicaid. The truth is Medicaid has no set limit on applicant/recipients’ income. The rule of thumb is that anyone with income below the cost of a nursing home is eligible based on income. That’s because Medicaid subtracts personal LTC and health care expenditures from income before applying its lower income limit. So incomes of $100,000 or more are no obstacle in places like New York City where nursing homes are very expensive. No wonder LTC insurance isn’t on most people’s radar until they need care and no wonder at that point most slip easily onto Medicaid despite that program’s many deficiencies.