Ways to Pay for Long-Term Care

1. Private Pay (Self-Insure): Self-insuring is essentially saving up enough money to pay for out-of-pocket care.

2. Long-Term Care Insurance: Long-term care insurance is an insurance product, that helps pay for the costs associated with long-term care. There are traditional LTC insurance policies (pay-as-you-go) and asset-based/linked/hybrid policies. Hybrid policies combine a life insurance or annuity policy with a long-term care insurance rider.

3. Veteran’s Benefits: Veterans who have served in qualified periods of conflict, as well as their spouses, are entitled to receive financial aid, known as the Veterans Aid and Attendance, or A&A benefit, to pay for long-term care.

4. Medicaid: When all other options are exhausted, the government will help pay long-term care costs. A lot of people think Medicare will pay, and it doesn't. While Medicare will pay for some nursing home care after a hospitalization, that coverage is limited. After 100 days, Medicare beneficiaries are totally on their own. Medicaid is the governmental program that pays for the bulk of long-term care expenses in the United States. Medicaid has been referred to as the “nursing home insurance plan for the middle class”