Preparing for Long-Term Care:Know Your Options and Create Your Plan
As we get older our needs change. From strengthening the prescription of our eyeglasses to asking a friend to drive us to the grocery store, we adapt to these changes and ask for the help we need. Creating a plan for long-term care is an important step in this process.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nine million Americans over the age of 65 will need long-term care in 2005.i Their study also states that people over this age have a 40% chance of eventually requiring a nursing home facility.i While you may not need assistance today, now is the time to start planning for future help - when you are healthy and active. The first step in developing your plan is to understand long-term care and know your options.
What is Long-Term Care?
Long-term care refers to the support needed to accomplish your daily activities when you're physically unable to take on these challenges yourself. It may include medical treatment, but also refers to assistance with personal tasks such driving, cooking, dressing, bathing or taking your medications. Care options encompass a wide variety of services and, based on the degree of assistance required, are offered in settings ranging from your own home to skilled nursing facilities.
What are Your Choices?
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), divides long-term care options into eight categories: ii
1. Community Services: Volunteer-based community programs to assist you with your daily activities. Examples include adult day care, meal services and community senior centers.
2. Home Care: Personal assistance in your home that's provided by a licensed health-care professional, family member or friend.
3. In-Law Apartments: The creation of a second living unit either within your existing single-family home or on your property. This additional residential unit enables another person to live close by to assist with your daily activities, while you maintain your independence.
4. Subsidized Senior Housing: If your income falls in the low to moderate range, you may qualify to live in Federal or State government assisted housing designed especially for seniors. Programs vary by state and often require an application to determine eligibility.
5. Board and Care Homes: Private residential living facilities that offer you shared accommodations, meal service and assistance with personal tasks. Also called group homes, these facilities are for seniors who can no longer live alone, but don't need the medical care of a nursing home.
6. Assisted Living: A building complex that lets you to have your own room or apartment, but share common meal service.
Continuing Care Retirement Communities: A mixed-need community that offers you different housing options based on the level of care you require. A single community can include
independent living homes, assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Therefore, you have a variety of housing choices as your needs change over time.
Nursing Homes: A full-time care facility that provides you with both health care and personal assistance services if you're unable to live alone or be cared for at home.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Web site, www.medicare.gov, provides in-depth details on each of these eight options as well as instructions on how you can locate facilities in your area. If you don't have a computer at home, bring this article to your local public library. They can help you find and print this information.
Developing Your Plan
Creating a long-term care plan is an important decision for you, your family and your doctor. Talk to your family about the options that best suit your lifestyle. Medicare coverage varies widely between categories, so be sure to address financial planning and long-term care insurance before you're likely to need services. Consider asking your doctor about how your needs might change over time. Changes in your health will affect your long-term needs and options, so be sure to ask for your doctor's professional opinion.iii
The future is never certain - by researching your options and establishing a long-term care plan now, you can continue to enjoy life, secure in the knowledge that your personal and health-care needs will be attended to for years to come.
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i Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, What is Long-Term Care? (3/05)
ii Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Types of Long-Term Care (3/05)
iii Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Steps to Choosing Long-Term Care (3/05)
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