care options -nursing homes
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- A Spy In the Nursing Home by Eileen Kraatz
- Medicare's Nursing Home Compare
- Medicare's Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home
A simple, well-organized book that is a must-read for anyone scouting out a nursing home. Insightful and wise.
Plug in your parent's zip code to find a list of local nursing homes. The site offers a star-rated list of available options, with info from state inspections as well as from the nursing homes themselves.
This booklet is terrific and a must-read. It details how to find and compare nursing homes, how to pay for nursing home care, your nursing home resident rights, etc.
Who Pays For Long-Term Care?
Not Medicare. Medicare generally only pays for short-term care for rehabilitation purposes.
There are three basic ways to pay for long-term care:
For short-term care, Medicare covers 100 days in a “skilled-nursing facility” and only after three consecutives days (which does not include the discharge day) in a hospital, and Medicare will only pay for services provided by Medicare-certified facilities. For the first 20 days, Medicare covers 100% of the cost. The next 80 days, your parent is responsible to pay $148.00 per day, which likely will be picked up by his or her secondary ("gap") insurance, and Medicare covers the balance. The national average median cost for a skilled-nursing facility, according to The Genworth 2015 Cost of Care Survey, is $212 per day for a semi-private room and $240 per day for a private room. The survey is a great reference for a state-by-state breakdown of care costs – nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, in-home care, etc.
If your parent has a Medicare Advantage plan or another type of Medicare health plan – like an HMO or PPO – then your parent may be covered for long-term care in a nursing home. Apparently, some nursing homes have arrangements with specific HMOs and PPOs, and these are worth checking out. Also, importantly, if your parent’s a veteran, there are all kinds of benefits available. To find out more about veteran’s benefits, call 800-827-1000.
For more information generally about paying for care, check out our Medicare-Financial section.
There are three basic ways to pay for long-term care:
- your parent would use his or her own financial resources,
- long-term insurance, if your parent has a policy, or
- Medicaid, if your parent qualifies, and, generally, Medicaid only covers nursing homes, though some states now pay for assisted-living facilities as well. The nursing home business office should be able to answer your eligibility questions.
For short-term care, Medicare covers 100 days in a “skilled-nursing facility” and only after three consecutives days (which does not include the discharge day) in a hospital, and Medicare will only pay for services provided by Medicare-certified facilities. For the first 20 days, Medicare covers 100% of the cost. The next 80 days, your parent is responsible to pay $148.00 per day, which likely will be picked up by his or her secondary ("gap") insurance, and Medicare covers the balance. The national average median cost for a skilled-nursing facility, according to The Genworth 2015 Cost of Care Survey, is $212 per day for a semi-private room and $240 per day for a private room. The survey is a great reference for a state-by-state breakdown of care costs – nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, in-home care, etc.
If your parent has a Medicare Advantage plan or another type of Medicare health plan – like an HMO or PPO – then your parent may be covered for long-term care in a nursing home. Apparently, some nursing homes have arrangements with specific HMOs and PPOs, and these are worth checking out. Also, importantly, if your parent’s a veteran, there are all kinds of benefits available. To find out more about veteran’s benefits, call 800-827-1000.
For more information generally about paying for care, check out our Medicare-Financial section.
Make sure to regularly update your parent's medication list.
