Long Term Care Insurance

Medicare covers nursing care and hospice.  Other categories such as memory care for those with the grave misfortune of Alzheimer’s are not.  A relative by marriage ran through $5000 per month in the last couple years.  Fortunately, she had purchased long-term care insurance, which left her millions untouched for her heirs.

I have not thought about this much, partly b because it is terrifying to imagine the last year of two before checking out and partly because my own parents managed to avoid these sort of ugly ends.  My father went from good health to death with only a couple days in the hospital.   My mother went from living at home fairly independently to death in a hospital in less than a week.

I think it likely that neither my wife nor me will battle Alzheimer’s because we keep our brains very active, constantly learning.  Nonetheless, it seems wise to consider purchasing coverage while we are still only in our 60s.  I confess that the prospect of burning through $5000 per month on memory care just does not seem thst scary.  That is not pocket change for us but there are no U-Hauls to Heaven.

Any thoughts or experiences on this?

UPDATE: One reader shared a horrible story that puts a worrisome asterisk on Medicare covers nursing care.  I did some digging and found out that what they cover has some gotchas: 

"So what happens when Medicare stops paying for nursing home care? Your loved one either extends Medicare coverage, privately pays for the nursing home, applies for Medicaid to pay for the nursing home, or gets discharged to a lower level of care.

"From day 21 to day 100 in a nursing facility, Medicare continues to contribute towards in-patient rehabilitation, but coinsurance payments are typically required from you. Additional coverage for days 21 through 100 depends on your Medicare supplemental or Medicare Advantage plans.

"Once you reach day 101 or plateau in rehab, Medicare coverage for nursing home care ceases. You are responsible for all costs (easily $300-500 per day in Florida) unless you have additional insurance policies or qualify for other programs such as Medicaid. This can be a critical juncture, necessitating a review of your financial resources and possibly the need to explore alternative long-term care options."

So if you stop improving, they stop paying and you can see several hundred dollars a day