Get the best care in the right place, for the right price -- this book shows you how! Finding the right kind of long-term care often requires making difficult decisions during difficult times. Long-Term Care helps you understand the alternatives to nursing -facilities and shows you how to find the best care you can afford. With Long-Term Care, you'll be able to: -evaluate long-term care insurance -arrange home care -explore options beyond nursing homes -choose a nursing facility -get the most out of Medicare, Medicaid and other benefit-programs -protect your assets -recognize and prevent elder fraud The completely updated 6th edition has a new chapter on hospice care. It also includes up-to-date benefit numbers, laws and taxes, as well as the latest resources and websites. With sensitivity and clarity, Joseph Matthews gives you all the information necessary to help plan for and make the best arrangements for long-term care.

All of us have to face the uncomfortable fact that, one day, we or our family members may need some kind of expensive long-term care. Most older people, even if they remain basically healthy, develop physical or mental frailties or impairments that at some point prevent them from living completely independent lives. More than five million older people in the United States receive some form of daily care at home, provided by someone from outside the family. Millions more receive regular care, though not on a daily basis. And still more millions receive at-home care entirely from family members -- who may not be able to continue that care indefinitely. Nearly two million people over age 65 live full-time in some type of nursing facility or other residential care facility, at a cost of between $30,000 and $150,000 per year. Of people over 65 in nursing facilities, about 15% to 20% will live there for longer than a year and about 8% will live there for more than three years. The average stay for people living in assisted living facilities is about 28 months. Medicare, which some believe pays for medical care for everyone over 65, in fact pays for only about 10% of all nursing facility costs, a smaller fraction of all home care costs, and nothing at all for long- term care. Medicaid, the federal government program which pays medical costs for the financially needy, pays for about half of all nursing facility costs, but you have to spend most of your personal assets before you become eligible for coverage. And while Medicaid pays for residence in a few assisted living, shelter care, or residential care facilities, most of this cost must be paid with private funds. These statistics convey an urgent, unsettling message: Many of us will need long-term care -- and the government is not going to foot much of the bill. This book can help you prepare for what the future might bring by presenting the alternatives you need to consider. The more physically, emotionally, and financially prepared you are, and the more you are in control of your own life, the better off you and your family will be. A. What Is Long-Term Care? As used in this book, "long-term care" means regular assistance with medical care (nursing, medicating, physical therapy) or personal needs (eating, dressing, bathing, moving around) provided by someone outside an older person's family. There are many varieties of long-term care -- ranging from part-time home care and adult day care, to independent living and assisted living residential communities, to personal care residences and nursing facilities. Some long-term care is temporary -- for example, just long enough to help an older person recover from a broken hip or a stroke. Often, though, once begun it lasts for the remainder of an older person's life. Long-Term Care: A Glossary of Terms Long-term care comes in many varieties and settings. Some types of care are services that can be provided in a senior's own home; others are residential care options. This book covers all of the following types of long-term care in detail. Here we provide brief definitions of various care options, to help you keep the terms straight as you use this book. Bear in mind that most of these are not formal or technical terms -- what people mean when they use these terms may differ slightly from place to place, or from facility to facility.

 

Get the best care in the right place, for the right price -- this book shows you how!

Introduction What Is Long-Term Care? Threshold Issues of Long-Term Care 1. Making Decisions About Long-Term Care Getting Started Make a Realistic Family Commitment What Can You Afford? Geriatric Care Managers Other Legal and Financial Matters 2. At-Home Care What Is Home Care? How to Find Home Care Services Provided Kinds of Providers What to Look For Getting Started Costs of Home Care Financing Home Care Through Reverse Mortgages Cashing In a Life Insurance Policy Home Care 3. Organized Senior Residences Independent Living Assisted Living Combination Residential Facilities 4. Long-Term Care Facilities Levels of Care Choosing the Right Facility Your Written Contract 5. Care for Elders With Alzheimer's Disease The Symptoms and Stages of Alzheimer's Home Care for Alzheimer's Residential Care Facilities for Alzheimer's 6. Hospice Care Medicare Eligibility for Hospice Care Services Provided by Hospice How Hospice Operates Payment for Hospice Care 7. Medicare and Veterans' Benefits Medicare Coverage for Long-Term Care Veterans' Benefits for Long-Term Care 8. Medicaid Coverage for Long-Term Care Eligibility for Medicaid What Medicaid Pays For Finding Out About Medicaid in Your State If You Are Denied Medicaid Coverage 9. Medicaid and Asset Protection Medicaid Rules on Transfer of Assets Strategies to Protect Your Assets 10. Protecting Choices About Medical Care and Finances Health Care Decisions Financial Decisions Guardianships and Conservatorships 11. Long-Term Care Insurance Risks and Benefits Warnings About Insurance Practices Extent of Coverage Coverage Conditions and Exclusions Premiums Benefit Amounts Refund Provisions 12. Elder Fraud Why Elders Are Targets Who Commits Elder Fraud Elder Frauds Where to Get Help Appendix: Resource Directory Aging, State Agencies Alzheimer's Disease Organizations Caregiver Support Groups Home Care, Community Programs, and Senior Residences National Organizations State Associations Hospice Organizations State Hospice Organizations Insurance -- Long-Term Care State Departments of Insurance State Agencies on Aging Information About LTC Policies Legal Assistance Licensing and Certification Nursing Facility License and Certification Offices Medicaid Assistance Nursing Facility and Alternative Residence Organizations Ombudsman Offices Reverse Mortgage and Home Equity Conversion Assistance Viatical Settlement Assistance Index

"A straight-talking guide to choosing and paying for a nursing home, assisted living site, or home care."

 

"This book offers great advice about selecting a nursing home."

 

"Evaluates home health, residential and nursing care facilities, and nursing home insurance; it also looks at Medicare, Medicaid and other benefit programs."

 

"Covers all the angles, from various kinds of care to evaluating facilities and insurance, to protecting your assets, and even detecting and preventing elder fraud."

 

"One of the best books on the topic."

 

Joseph Matthews has been an attorney since 1971, and from 1975 to 1977 he taught at the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. He has for many years been involved in matters relating to seniors, and is the author of Social Security, Medicare & Government Pensions and Long Term Care: How to Plan & Play for It, as well as How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim. Products by Joseph L. Matthews, Attorney: How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim The Lawsuit Survival Guide: A Client's Companion to Litigation Long-Term Care Insurance: Do You Need It? Long-Term Care: How to Plan & Pay for It Social Security, Medicare & Government Pensions: Get the Most Out of Your Retirement & Medical Benefits

 

Long-Term Care: How to Plan & Pay for It by Joseph Matthews
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