Does Medicare Cover Long Term Healthcare?
Baby Boomers find Medicare will not Cover our Long-Term Healthcare Expenses
Most Baby Boomers believe that Medicare will cover our Long-Term Healthcare Expenses. NOT
So, Baby Boomers may want to consider options for private insurance.
Only about 10% of Baby Boomers who should consider long-term care insurance, actually have bought it or even considering it.
Baby Boomers need to consider the necessary expense of getting additional long-term care insurance when budgeting our retirement.
Recently the Social Security Commissioner made clear the wording of the Social Security Statement — found at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/mystatement/.
The section titled “About Social Security and Medicare” reads as follows:
“Social Security pays retirement, disability, family, and survivors benefits. Medicare, a separate program run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, helps pay for inpatient hospital care, nursing care, doctors’ fees, drugs, and other medical services and supplies to people age 65 and older, as well as to people who have been receiving Social Security disability benefits for two years or more. Medicare does not pay for long-term care, so you may want to consider options for private insurance.”
It is vital for millions of American Baby Boomers to do what the statement says.
Paying for long-term care is beyond the scope of Medicare. It’s also beyond the scope of ordinary health insurance. Bottom line: Baby Boomers are responsible for providing our own long-term health-care and need to consider this expense when budgeting our retirement.
Your Medicare Coverage
Welcome to the Medicare Coverage section of http://www.medicare.gov.
This section provides information about your health care benefits in the Original Medicare plan (sometimes referred to as “fee-for-service”).
Medicare Long-Term Health-care Planning Tool
Example: Long-Term Care Projected Costs
(Baby Boomer. Age 57, Good Health, No Existing Conditions)
People with similar long-term care needs to spend an average of $218,074 in their lifetime.
The results of that comparison show that for every 100 people with similar histories:
• 39 people required long-term care and spent an average of $218,074 in their lifetime
• 61 people used no long-term care services in their lifetime
Of those 39 people who required long-term care services:
• 9 people spent less than $50,000
• 7 people spent between $50,000 and $100,000
• 12 people spent between $100,000 and $250,000
• 11 people spent more than $250,000
People with similar histories who used long-term care services used an average of:
• 6,475 hours of informal care from friends and family
• 814 hours of formal care from home care providers
• 680 days of assisted living or nursing care
Baby Boomers and Long-Term Healthcare Insurance.
Bottom line: Baby Boomers are responsible for providing our own long-term health-care and need to consider this expense when budgeting our retirement.
Paperback Book ($9.99): Long-Term Care, The Silent Storm:
A Guide to Navigating the Challenges of Finding and Affording Long-Term Care
