Health Insurance Articles
3 Ways Health Insurance Can Cover Long Term Care Services
2010-12-28
Health insurance and long term care are closely linked, and as people get older, they often wonder whether their health insurance policies will cover part of or all of the costs of long term care - nursing homes, alternative living, or even at home nursing. Unfortunately, health insurance policies don't usually cover the costs of these services and facilities. That's typically covered under a separate form of insurance known as long term care insurance. However, there are several ways in which your health insurance policy could overlap and end up paying for some of the costs of long term care. Knowing about these is essential for planning purposes, and can help you to control your costs if long term care is ever necessary for you or someone in your family.
One such area is the nursing services that are necessary in nursing homes; certain plans may pay for portions of these, although coverage is by no means guaranteed. Note that this does not mean that your health insurance company will provide for all of the cost of living expenses - the long term care facility itself is not considered part of these costs, and some insurance policies won't even cover any part of nursing unless it's part of a hospital bill (and medical insurance policies certainly won't cover the high costs of at-home nursing services). Call your medical insurance agent to find out more information about nursing services and how they relate to your coverage.
Medication will also be covered by your medical insurance, and in fact, long term care insurance may not cover any part of medication, so keeping good medical coverage is essential. Medical costs can get very high for people in long term care facilities, and even moderate plans may be overwhelmed quickly by these costs. A third point of coverage for many medical insurance policies is the equipment that a person in long term care needs; things like oxygen tanks and CPAP machines are likely to be covered by your medical insurance policy as long as they're recommended by a doctor.
You'll need to look at your health insurance policy and any long term care insurance policies that you own in order to find areas that might be covered by both policies. In general, they're very separate forms of insurance, and in order to cover the extensive costs of long term care, you'll need both. However, knowing how your medical insurance might cover certain costs is essential in knowing what types of coverage to buy in order to keep yourself fully financially protected from the costs of long term care and associated medical expenses.
