Probably one of the biggest misconceptions that I hear from people is that they think Medicare is going to cover long-term care. Medicare does not. Medicare covers skilled nursing care, and it will only cover, at most, 100 days. In order to even get to that point, the individual has to be admitted into a hospital, stay there at least three nights, and then get sent to a skilled rehab facility.

At that point, Medicare will pay for 20 days in full and then after that, up to at most; again, 100 days with a co-pay. So when a person’s looking at either custodial care or care extended past that 100 days, that’s when Medicaid comes in, because that is the payer of long-term care, and that’s when you really should get an Elder Law attorney involved.

SaveSave