How Do You Get Medicaid Long Term Care Coverage?
If you have a family member who has to bee in a long term care facility, it can start to be really expensive. One thing that you can do to help with the costs is to apply for Medicaid long term care coverage.
Medicaid Long Term Care Coverage
Medicaid is a federal program that is designed to make sure that low-income people and people with disabilities or long term health needs are able to get appropriate medical treatment. There are a variety of things that they will cover, including long term care. Generally, long term care is classified as at least a 30 day stay in a residential facility after a 3 day stay in a hospital, as long as the admittance to the skilled care residential facility happens within 30 days of that hospitalization. The care must be the same from the hospital to the residential facility. However, you are going to need to be careful when you are looking at that time period, because in most states, Medicaid won't cover more than 100 days. Your state may vary from that, especially with the new Medicaid expansion programs. So, if you need to get this coverage, what do you need to do?
Apply For Medicaid
If you don't already have it, you are going to need to apply for it. You will have to contact your state's Health and Human Services department to find out how to apply. You may be able to apply online or over the phone if getting to an office is difficult. You will need to provide proof of who you are, as well as financial information. You will have to show that you fit within their income guidelines. Once you have been approved, it's time to move to the next step.
Functional Assessments
After you have been approved and said that you need to have long term services for you or your loved one, there will be some assessments done. That assessment will show whether or not you need to have the skilled nursing care that you would get from a residential facility. You may be able to skip this step if you are going straight from the hospital to the residential facility. The assessments will check a number of things, including whether or not the person is able to get through daily living tasks like dressing, showering, or making food.
If everything goes the way it should, you or your family member should be able to get some long term coverage for a residential stay in a skilled nursing facility.