Inspire New Boston

If you’re a senior who is receiving Social Security income, you can use it to help pay for your nursing home expenses. However, it’s important to note that Social Security usually isn’t enough to cover the cost of living in a nursing home. You’ll need to use another form of income, whether that’s long-term care insurance or savings you may have, to pay for Social Security in its entirety. It’s also important to note that if you are using Medicaid to pay for your nursing home costs, you may need to forfeit some or all of your Social Security income, depending on how much you receive.

• Medicare provides some coverage for nursing facilities, but you will still be left with out-of-pocket expenses. Medicare covers 100 days at a skilled nursing facility per benefit period. In some cases, Medicare can also cover 35 hours per week of home health services.
• Medicaid assistance levels differ between states. Veterans and their spouses may also be eligible for extended assistance benefits – veterans themselves may qualify for as much as $1,794 per month in assistance for nursing home costs.
• Many people choose to pay their nursing home fees with long-term care insurance. Long-term care insurance is designed to cover nursing homes, assisted living, and other ongoing healthcare needs. Some types of life insurance also provide a way to access your death benefit to pay for long-term medical coverage as needed.

Moving a patient to a new nursing home can be difficult, particularly if you are using Medicaid to pay for your care. If you are staying in the same state, you will just need to make sure that the new nursing home has Medicaid beds available. However, if you are moving to a different state, you will need to apply for Medicaid separately in that state. Every state has different Medicaid rules, so this process can take some time.

The terms “assisted living” and “nursing home” have different definitions, even though they are sometimes used interchangeably. An assisted living facility helps residents with their daily tasks, such as preparing meals, taking medications, and cleaning their spaces, but it does not provide ongoing medical care. The staff at an assisted living facility can take residents to their doctor’s appointments and provide help with common wellness issues, but they are not physicians and cannot provide the same level of care as a nursing home.

Nursing homes provide medical care around the clock, as well as help with everything from eating to bathing to dressing, depending on the patient’s needs. Nursing home patients are supervised by licensed physicians. Many patients move from assisted living to a nursing home after an injury or if a chronic condition gets too difficult to manage without daily care.

For many people, the high costs of a nursing home are far outside of their monthly budget. If you don’t have the money to pay for a nursing home, Medicaid will be the best option in most cases. Medicare requirements are determined by state governments and can differ based on where you live, but your income will need to be under a certain amount in order to qualify. In most cases, you will also be required to sell any property that you aren’t living in and sell any existing investments you have before you can qualify for Medicaid coverage.