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Clarifying Medicare Coverage and Long-Term Care Costs - AEI.org
In his “Little-Known Facts” column on AEI.org, Senior Fellow Andrew J. Biggs typically digs into broad concepts related to retirement and its complex financial planning issues. Yesterday, he ventured into a widely held misconception about the cost-sharing relationships between Medicare and long-term services and supports (LTSS), dispelling the popular general notion that “Medicare doesn’t cover long-term care.”
Biggs’ explanation explores the two types of long-term care: “long-term care that results simply from aging and declining ability to perform daily activities,” and “care that’s needed because of a medical condition—rehabilitation after a fall, skilled nursing after hospitalization, home health following surgery, hospice, and so forth.” The common misunderstanding, he notes, is that contrary to popular belief, Medicare does cover a significant portion of the latter type of care.
This post, titled “The Retirement Myth Everyone Gets Wrong About Medicare,” is well worth the time to read and absorb the research Biggs explains, especially by those alarmed by the marketing hype from long-term care insurance vendors and by those seeking a carefully planned long-term retirement.