Have you considered how you would want to receive care if you can’t care for yourself in the future? Have you prepared to pay for it?
Someone turning age 65 today has almost a 70% chance of needing some type of extended care services and support in their remaining years, according to the Administration for Community Living. Both Short-term Care insurance and Long-term Care insurance are types of health insurance for extended care services.
Understanding the difference between Short-term Care insurance vs. Long-term Care insurance can help you create a care plan that makes sure your finances are well protected.
Long-term Care insurance helps covers the support that you’ll need when you can no longer perform tasks on your own from chronic illness, disability, and/or impairment. Long-term Care insurance offers comprehensive coverage to help with activities of daily living, such as bathing, getting dressed, and eating, and instrumental activities of daily living, such as attending medical appointments and completing housework.
Typically, Medicare and most health insurance plans don’t cover long-term custodial care. On average, an American turning 65 years old today will incur $120,900 in future extended care costs, measured in today's dollars. Families will pay 37% of the costs themselves out of pocket, with the rest covered by public programs and private insurance.
Short-term Care insurance is meant to prepare for the “what if.” If you unexpectedly become injured, require surgery, or experience a medical condition that limits your ability to perform activities of daily living, Short-term Care insurance can offer financial protection up to 12 months, so that your medical and non-medical extended care needs are met.
Medicare Parts A and B cover some home health services and inpatient skilled nursing facility care costs, but they don’t cover extended care. Short-term Care insurance can help cover these gaps.
Short-term Care insurance is also an option if you don’t qualify for or can’t afford Long-term Care insurance — or if you’re in need of gap coverage during the Long-term Care insurance elimination period, which is most often 90 to 180 days between the start of your illness or injury and when you’re eligible to begin receiving benefits. Short-term Care insurance usually has fewer restrictions on the types of care it covers and who qualifies.
If you’re wondering how long you will need Short-term Care insurance, on average, 42% of people need less than 1 year of at-home paid care and 37% of people need less than 1 year of any skilled care in facilities.
To be well protected for all of life’s in-between stages, what-ifs, and unexpected changes:
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Kelly Rayburn, AVP national sales and distribution at Wellabe, and Olga Villaverde, from Lifetime TV’s The Balancing Act, discuss the areas that primary health plans and Medicare may not cover and how you can protect yourself with supplemental plans.
More topics at thebalancingact.com
Wellabe offers life and supplemental health insurance plans to help you prepare for good days and bad. We’ll always be here to empower you to be well — well prepared, well protected, and well loved.
