The United States healthcare system has changed considerably over the past six years. After, the the Affordable Care Act was enacted in March 2010, many people that before were not eligible to receive healthcare insurance, now are, under this law. The key points for the Affordable Care Act is to decrease cost, improve access and quality of healthcare. How is this done? Is the ACA effective for all the population? How about patients requiring long term care? Are they protected by this Act? According to the Centers for Disease Control(CDC), in 2012, about 58,500 of long term care facilities are regulated, these served about 8 million people throughout the USA. One of the problems that the United States healthcare system is facing in regard to
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The strengths of having long term care insurance are the following: people who need long term care would be able to afford it, quality of life is likely to be better because insured people would have a peaceful mind and will concentrate in getting better, long term care insurance will likely pay for most of the care needed. However, it also has its weaknesses, and one of them is that many people would not sign up for this type of insurance without needing it. Most people at age 50 will consider themselves too young or they do not believe that they will need long term care in the near future, therefore, would choose not to purchase long term care insurance. Another weakness, is the fact that a lot people are unaware of the existence of long term care insurance or believe that Medicare will pay for long term care, when in fact, Medicare only cover ‘medical necessary long term care,’ but for the most part, will only cover acute episodes. Others, believe that if Medicare will not cover long term care, Medicaid will; Medicaid varies state to state, and usually, if Medicaid cover long term care, individuals need to prove that they cannot perform ADLs independently. Some of the ADL requirements are dressing, bathing, transferring, walking, feeding, etc(HHS.gov) In addition, aside from imposing no income and asset limits (because you purchase it), Long Term Care insurance offers …show more content…
Therefore, before purchasing LTC insurance, people need to be certain that they will be able to pay for their monthly fee. This is another reason why people need to purchase this type of insurance while young, so that the premiums are low and that they afford it. In another way, there are many opportunities within the Long term care insurance, many people are realizing that Medicaid program is not enough in order to cover long term care expenses and are speaking out about the situation. Another factor influencing the way Americans see health care is the fact that people are living longer and the age to receive Medicare is likely to increase within the next five years. So people want to be prepared and start making plans for the future. One of the biggest thread that faces Long term care is that many people cannot afford to buy LTC insurance or are afraid of the investment. Americans are already paying a lot of money in insurance companies that purchasing ‘another’ type of insurance will be very costly and highly unlikely unless
The strengths of having long term care insurance are the following: people who need long term care would be able to afford it, quality of life is likely to be better because insured people would have a peaceful mind and will concentrate in getting better, long term care insurance will likely pay for most of the care needed. However, it also has its weaknesses, and one of them is that many people would not sign up for this type of insurance without needing it. Most people at age 50 will consider themselves too young or they do not believe that they will need long term care in the near future, therefore, would choose not to purchase long term care insurance. Another weakness, is the fact that a lot people are unaware of the existence of long term care insurance or believe that Medicare will pay for long term care, when in fact, Medicare only cover ‘medical necessary long term care,’ but for the most part, will only cover acute episodes. Others, believe that if Medicare will not cover long term care, Medicaid will; Medicaid varies state to state, and usually, if Medicaid cover long term care, individuals need to prove that they cannot perform ADLs independently. Some of the ADL requirements are dressing, bathing, transferring, walking, feeding, etc(HHS.gov) In addition, aside from imposing no income and asset limits (because you purchase it), Long Term Care insurance offers …show more content…
Therefore, before purchasing LTC insurance, people need to be certain that they will be able to pay for their monthly fee. This is another reason why people need to purchase this type of insurance while young, so that the premiums are low and that they afford it. In another way, there are many opportunities within the Long term care insurance, many people are realizing that Medicaid program is not enough in order to cover long term care expenses and are speaking out about the situation. Another factor influencing the way Americans see health care is the fact that people are living longer and the age to receive Medicare is likely to increase within the next five years. So people want to be prepared and start making plans for the future. One of the biggest thread that faces Long term care is that many people cannot afford to buy LTC insurance or are afraid of the investment. Americans are already paying a lot of money in insurance companies that purchasing ‘another’ type of insurance will be very costly and highly unlikely unless