Will a long-term care insurance policy pay for home health care from a nurse practitioner?
Answers
A long-term care insurance policy can pay for the services of a nurse practitioner -- a nurse with advanced training -- under some circumstances.
First, the policy has to cover home care. (Some policies, particularly ones issued in the 1980s, cover nursing home care but not home care.) If a policy with home care coverage is used to pay for care from a certified home health care agency, the agency would have to decide that the higher skilled and more expensive services of a nurse practitioner were required.
Some policies that pay for home care don't require that services be provided by a certified home care agency. These policies pay a certain amount per day for home care but allow the policy holder to spend the money in any way he likes. If you have this kind of policy, you can spend your benefits on care from a registered nurse practitioner, or on a non-certified, unofficial home care aide, or on anyone else, in whatever combination you choose.
David Shulman, CLTC
I realized that many people do not actually know what Long Term Care planning is all about! Simply stated:
Long Term Care Insurance is a planning tool that allows you to pay an affordable premium to protect yourself in case of an unaffordable catastrophic event.
Long Term Care Is Not Medical Care
Almost everyone believes the chances of ending up in a nursing home are remote. But please don’t confuse that with growing old and needing care. Different from medical care, Long Term Care assists a person with normal daily activities they can no longer manage. Whether your need is due to age, injury or disability, Long Term Care Insurance provides daily and/or monthly benefits to pay for the necessary care not generally covered by health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid.
It is true that Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance will pay for nursing homes, but that is the one place most of us would never want to be. Actually, LTC insurance can keep you out of a nursing home by providing funding to hire someone in your own home.
Benefits are triggered by the inability to perform two or more activities of daily living (ADLs): toileting, bathing, dressing, eating, transferring (getting from one point to another without falling) or continence. A cognitive impairment, which can include problems with memory, perception, problem solving and conceptualization, can also trigger benefits if it leads to a requirement for substantial assistance. Your own doctor is the one who certifies that care is needed.
Preserve Your Lifestyle and Well-being With Long Term Care Insurance
You may never need Long Term Care, but if you do and you’re unprepared, the consequences to your family and retirement portfolio can be catastrophic. Schneider & Shulman Associates encourage you to consider Long Term Care Insurance as a means to preserve your lifestyle, your estate and your family’s well-being. Call us for free information toll free at 1 877 View LTC ( 1-877-843-9582) or visit our website: www.ssltc.com
This kind of info can be so convoluting in nature, but the article gives such pointed concepts that it helps clear my mind and sets me on a positive road of action. Thanks!
