What Has Medicaid Got For Long Term Care?

The much hyped and much controversial health care bill talks a lot of general health care issues like regular medical visits to doctors and treatments for specific illnesses, but you should know that our country has got a lot of elderly people who need long term consistent care. So what has this health care bill got for such people who are not ailing with any well defined illness in general or rather ailing with a host of them? They are not the ones going to the doctor with any specific health complaint but due to problems that oldage has brought upon them. These are the people who need long term general medical care as well as healthcare assistance. Surprisingly caring for the elderly seems to be a very expensive business. A Metlife Study says that a nursing home for the elderly costed around $ 212 per day last year, which amounts to well above $ 77, 000 annually. Do you think the elderly, who need long term care, let’s say to the tune of 3-4 years can afford this kind of a fee?

Generally people retire at the age of 65 and they barely have enough money to meet both ends meet, especially if they are not dependent on their children. Such heavy medical expenditure is something that they might not be able to cope with well. Medicaid for the elderly covers emergency and major hospital treatments. Fine, you get that very urgent cardiac bypass surgery done. But what about the costs that you’ve got to bear after the operation? The rehabilitation services are really very expensive. The nursing care, the medicines all cost a lot. What has the health care reform got for covering all these expenditures? Well, Medicaid has got a plan for covering long term care, but our elderly have to have assets less than $2000 for availing that. When will the government realize that its not only those who are dirt poor but also those who are called the middle class deserve some financial aid for living their lives? The middle class of any country is the most unfortunate lot. The rich have resources for covering costly expenditures, while the poor are covered by government policies. The middle class are the people who are totally unprotected – neither by personal wealth or by the government!

Medicaid comes with another twist. The elderly patient needs to be hospitalized or be in nursing home treatment to avail the perks of the medical scheme. I don’t have the means to put my 90 year old grandma in a hospital. For psychological reasons she doesn’t want to stay there. I’ve arranged all medical care for her at home. I have doctors and nurses visiting my home and I always regularly arrange for her saline drips and energizers. Medicaid doesn’t cover the costs of her treatment.

Many times there have been demands for making home medical care the primary option for the elderly, and Medicaid be used to cover this, but every time this has not been encouraged much.

It looks like you’ve got to search for other sources of financial aid, like your general insurance etc. and your revenues to finance the medical ex Medicaid doesn’t cover the costs of treatment expenditures of the elderly.