Long Term Care: Alternatives For Paying For

Alternatives for paying for long term care include:

• Medicaid: 
  • As a general matter, the payor for the greatest number of people requiring long term care in a nursing home is the government program known as Medicaid. Medicaid is a program for people with limited income and assets (not counting the value of a home.)
  • For medical care, as a general matter, if you have too much income and/or too many assets to qualify, you can give them away and qualify the next day. However, this is not the case with payment for nursing home care. Transfers for this kind of care require advance planning. For information about advance planning, click here.
  • For information about spousal impoverishment with respect to Medicaid and nursing homes, click here.
• Medicare pays for short term stays in a nursing home after a hospitalization. Medicare does not pay for long term care.
• Private Health Insurance: If it pays for long term care, it is only for a short period of time.
• Annuities
• Life Insurance (including borrowing against it, selling it and/or cashing it in)
• Credit
• Use of other assets (such as borrowing money against a house)
• Family and Friends: For information about how to borrow money from family and friends, click here.

NOTE: Consider whether family or friends who can take care of you at home can help you avoid, or delay going into a nursing home - possibly under the direction of your doctor with help a few hours a day from a home health aide. For information about home health care, including information about home health aides, click here.