Medicaid & MassHealth: Payment Options For Nursing Home Care
When it comes to staying in a skilled nursing facility, you are probably unsure of a few things. How long will you likely be there? How you will pay for it? Can you afford to stay there for an extended period of time?
Medicare is a short-term option you may consider. Here is what you need to know about it:
- Medicare will pay up to 100 days.
- Medicare can stop paying sooner than 100 days if you don’t meet clinical eligibility criteria.
- After 100 days or sooner, if you do not meet criteria, you will then need to have a payment mechanism.
Unless you know your stay will be brief, you will need to decide on a long-term payment option. There are three basic options:
- Long-term care insurance: This will work only if you already have a policy in place. Most people do not.
- Private payment: This can mean a monthly rate of $9,000 to $12,000. This is too expensive for most people.
- Medicaid: This is called MassHealth in Massachusetts, and it may pay up to 99.9 percent of the cost of your stay after the first 100 days or sooner.
Avoid Breaking The Bank For Health Care
Our lawyer at the Center for Elder Law & Estate Planning can help make the eligibility process for MassHealth easier and save you hundreds of thousands of dollars through proper planning.
With decades of experience under our belts, we can remove your anxieties about how to afford the care you need. Our attorney knows many Medicaid planning strategies for making our clients eligible for benefits.
To find out how MassHealth could help you or to ask questions regarding your options, please call 888-784-0864 or email us. The first consultation with us is always free.
We help elders and their families throughout Weymouth and Boston.