Living Will Statutes
Assisted Living: Long Term Care
While we should all consider ourselves extraordinarily grateful to live in a country with the unparalleled medical technology of the United States during a time where scientific breakthroughs have allowed life expectancy to be stretched out to degrees heretofore unimaginable, longer life spans invariably bring along unexpected consequences in terms of societal expense, and the growing problem of long term care cost has reached critical proportions across the country.
The governmental health care safety net provided by Medicaid and Medicare was originally intended to meet all such concerns for those families who would be unable to monetarily support assisted living for their eldest or least fit members, but, with the long term care cost inexplicably continuing to rise well above the normal inflationary rates, state budgets have been pushed to the breaking point.
During the length gestation of Medicaid, midst political unrest hard to imagine even these turbulent times, the United States government found it advantageous to leave much of the health care program’s intricacies to the different state legislatures (as well as the elected representatives of the District of Columbia), and this inevitably led to such mishandled aspects of public health coverage like the current crises regarding long term care cost.
Alongside the predictable difficulties necessarily involved with such dramatic differences of coverage and expense, the absence of a guiding national board constitutionally charged with setting directives has more than partially created lingering and potentially cataclysmic repercussions such as the escalating long term care cost seen throughout the entire nursing home industry.
While it’s far from hyperbole to suggest that the Medicare and Medicaid programs have saved thousands, perhaps millions of lives during the more than four decades that the subsidized health care coverage has been in existence, our elected officials should have nevertheless foreseen the slow accumulation of gaping holes within the larger policies, and, to again focus upon arguably the greatest predicament faced by state and federal budgets, the magnitude of often unbearable prices foisted upon desperate seniors and disabled citizens through the jaw-dropping long term care cost would only be beaten by the complexities of arranging such managed care in tandem with the vaguely delineated, quickly changing, and sometimes counter intuitive local statutes.
Long term care cost underwritten by the state and federal government will ultimately depend not only on the facility chosen and the specific needs of the individuals forced toward such measures. The nursing home applicant’s state of residence could turn out to be the sole difference between fully sponsored long term care cost and claims deemed ineligible.
That’s right: given identical information, case workers in some states would be forced by the letter of the law to restrict access to nursing home subsidies beyond the three months provided by federal regulations – and even that coverage shall be subject to the official interpretations of medically prescribed necessities and particular health department employee’s definition of skilled care – while theirs neighbor across the state border might enjoy long term care cost absent any personal expense.
With tens of thousands of dollars potentially at stake (not to mention the risk of bankruptcy, home foreclosure or seizure by the authorities, and even denial of care by the nursing facility once monetary resources have been obliterated by the towering long term care cost), every man and woman approaching the age of retirement should find few issues more pressing than long term care cost, and seniors, as well as friends and family aiding their plans, should look upon the internet sites or speak directly with a state representative to gauge a realistic appraisal of their options.
About the Author
Medicaid is your right. You may be wondering about eligibility for Medicaid. The good news is that today you can now apply for Medicaid online.
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