New web resource about Medicare

I have been waiting for the right topic to link to the New York Times excellent series on aging, and here it is! Although this article is not as personalized as some others (check out all the topics at the series webpage), it is a good introduction to the new Medicare website for caregivers.

For the over-65 age group, Medicare pays for certain health care services, mostly hospital and doctor care, but does NOT pay for long-term care. As the article quotes Kerry Weems, the acting administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “We should be shouting from the rooftops, as often as we can, that Medicare does not have a long-term care benefit.” (However, in some cases, Medicare will pay for short-term nursing home care if it follows a hospitalization and is recuperative.)

Only after a person exhausts nearly all financial resources, will the federal Medicaid program (for those with low incomes and low assets) cover nursing home care. Even then, Medicaid is biases to nursing home care and typically does not cover other types of care, such as home health care or assisted living arrangements. The Medicaid rules are complicated and vary somewhat from state to state and differ for single persons and married persons, so consultation with an elder law attorney is strongly advised for any planning or qualification questions.