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. Personal Resources: Most people
pay long-term care expenses from their own income and resources. When
care is provided by family members and friends at home, necessary skilled
care such as equipment, transportation and other costs not paid by Medicare
are also paid from the patient's personal income or savings. People
who use up their assets paying for long-term care are "spending down"
and may become eligible for Medi-Cal as a result.
. Long-Term Care Insurance is designed
to pay a portion of long-term care costs. It is available from private
insurance companies selling in California. This type of insurance may
be cost-effective for you if you have sufficient available income to
pay the premiums for the rest of your life.
What Is Long-Term Care Insurance?
Long-Term care insurance covers any of the
following:
1. Care in a Facility that is not an acute-care hospital.
Some of the terms used to describe these "facilities" that can provide
long-term care services include nursing homes, Residential Care Facilities
for the Elderly (RCFE) often called Assisted Living Facilities, convalescent
facilities, extended care facilities, custodial care facilities, skilled
nursing facilities or personal care homes.
2. Home Care including Home Health
Care, Personal Care, Homemaker Services, Hospice Services or Respite
Care. (Some Hospice and Respite care can also be received in a facility
like a nursing home.)
3. Community-Based Care such as Adult
Day Care or Hospice Facility Care. In California, only 3 categories
of long-term care insurance policies can be sold. Each policy is labeled
as:
a. Nursing Facility and Residential Care Facility
Only. These policies cover skilled, intermediate, or custodial
care in a nursing home or similar facility. These policies also pay
for assisted living care in a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly
(RCFE) but Home Care is not covered.
b. Home Care Only. These policies
are required to pay for: Home Health Care, Adult Day Care, Personal
Care, Homemaker Services, Hospice Services and Respite Care but care
in a facility is not covered.
c. Comprehensive Long-Term Care. These
policies pay for nursing facility care, assisted living care in an RCFE,
and home and community care. These policies must include at least 8
benefits: a nursing home benefit, an RCFE benefit for assisted living,
and the 6 home care benefits: Home Health Care, Adult Day Care, Personal
Care, Homemaker Services, Hospice Service and Respite Care.
The California Partnership for Long-Term Care
(the Partnership), a program of the California Department of Health
Services (DHS), is an innovative partnership between consumers, the
State of California and six private insurance companies, plus the California
Public Employees Retirement System (CALPERS). These insurers offer a
special type of long-term care insurance policy, commonly called "Partnership"
policies, that must meet certain requirements set by the DHS. Insurance
companies participating in the Partnership program must have their Partnership
policies approved by both the Department of Insurance and the DHS. Additionally,
only agents who have received special training are able to sell you
a Partnership policy and to advise you as to whether the Partnership
program works for you. Be sure to confirm that your agent has this special
certification to sell Partnership policies.
Each Partnership-approved policy includes high quality
insurance benefits to cover the care you may need and automatic inflation
protection to ensure that the benefits keep pace with the rising cost
of care. Partnership policies also include a unique state guaranteed
asset protection feature that protects you against impoverishment due
to the costs of long-term care, even if you use up all the benefits
of your policy.
Long Term Insurance
| Bluecross Long Term |
California Long Term Insurance
| Kaiser Long Term |
Long Term PPO plans|
Long Term Medical plans | Long
Term Dental Insurance |
Long Term Group
Insurance | Long Term Blueshield
| Long Term Health Insurance
|
Long Term Health
plans | Long Term Health net
| Long Term Pacificare | Long
Term Medical Quote |
Long Term Aetna
PPO plans | Long Term Insurance
Quote | Long Term HMO plans
|
Long Term Life
Insurance | Long Term Dental
plans
|
